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Grass Pickerel Research Paper

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One of the most distinctive characteristics identifying young redfin pickerel, other than their size, is a silvery-green stripe spanning the region from the tip of the snout to the base of the caudal fin. Also, their fins are not fully red, only the tips of their fins contain any red pigmentation. Juvenile redfin pickerel are typically between 10-20mm in length at the time of hatching and grow rapidly. Scales do not appear on young redfin pickerel until they are at least 50mm.

Grass pickerel are distinguished from their pike relatives mainly by their small size. On average, they rarely grow to be more than 300mm in length and can obtain a mass weighing anywhere from 28-170 grams, with the largest specimens weighing just under 400 grams. They have a long, cylindrical, yet flattened body shape, a forked caudal fin, and a short "duck-billed …show more content…

According to Ming's study, which was a complete study of the life history of grass pickerel in Oklahoma, females weighed more and grew to longer lengths than males did over the 4 years this study was conducted. Specifically, females were averaged to weigh 127g, 197g, 248g, and 306g in the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th years of the study respectively, whereas males were averaged to weigh 123g, 195g, and 235g in the same time period. Although there is no data for male weights in the 4th year, we can follow the data trends and assume they are smaller than the females as well. The total lengths of male and female grass pickerel follow the same trend; Females in age group III (meaning they are 3 years old, determined by scale method, measuring the rings on the scales on the body) had average lengths of 140mm, 203mm, and 245mm through years 1-3 respectively. Similar to the weight trend, males tended to be smaller than the females through the same time period, with average lengths of 132mm, 194mm, 235mm (Ming,

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