Grass Pickerel - BIO 210 Species Study
Nutrition
During a study on the Grass Pickerel and their nutrition, the Pickerel were observed depending on their lengths. The ones ranging from 9.5mm to 15.0mm had consumed mainly copepods, ostracods and cladocerans. (Kleinert and Mraz, 1966) Also, the larger Pickerel that were 15.0mm to 40.0mm fed on the same ones the little ones did, but they also ate tendipedid larvae, and other fish. The greatest length of the Grass Pickerel that were studied measured in at 40.0mm to 80.0mm. (Kleinert and Mraz, 1966) These sized fish were consuming mostly ephemerid nymphs, tendipedid larvae, and other fish as well. (Kleinert and Mraz, 1966)
After a couple of months of coming to life the
grass pickerel starts to skip eating invertebrates, and goes for more
fish along with some crayfish. (Crossman, 1962) The grass
pickerels stomach that was researched from jones creek contained
Cladocera along with Ostracoda; and less of Isopoda and Diptera.
(Crossman, 1962)
Grass pickerel can come very
small in size and the smallest pickerel ever to eat a fish was only
54.0mm in length. On occasion scientists had discovered
vegetation along with some pebbles in the stomach, which are most likely
digested on accident by the fish.
The golden shiner (Notemigonus crysoleucas) at an impressive length of 134mm was the largest recorded fish eaten by a grass pickerel, where as in quantity the most fish consumed by a pickerel was 30. (Crossman, 1962)
When talking about fish and if they eat each other
it often happens with many larger fish, but while doing research on the
Esox americanus (grass pickerel) they found that only nine
occasions of cannibalism happened out of the 387 fish.
In one study they were researching the Grass
pickerel and found out that along with many of the fish stated above,
they determined the pickerel eats some frogs and tadpoles.