How to Identify a Chain Pickerel
- 1). Look for the trademark pattern of chains on the sides of the fish, which give it its name. The chain pickerel has a light green body with an interconnecting darker green set of markings that look like several linked chains running down both sides.
- 2). Check for an elongated and slender body. The chain pickerel can be longer than 2 feet, but the average specimen will be less than 15 inches long. The chain pickerel is thicker in the midsection of its body, and the dorsal, or top, fin is located far back on the fish near its tail. While some chain pickerel can exceed eight pounds, the typical one will weigh less than two pounds.
- 3). Watch out for the chain pickerel's sharp teeth. Like other members of the pike family, it has rows of tiny but extremely sharp teeth that are designed to grab prey and not let go.
- 4). Examine the snout. It should be long, broad and rounded. The head of a chain pickerel is very large in proportion to its body, and there is a depressed area between the tip of the snout and the eyes.
- 5). Check around the region of the eye of the chain pickerel for a distinctive dark marking. This bar is below the yellow eye and extends downward.
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