Pike is perhaps the easiest one to identify among Finnish fish species. Already as a fry it looks like a fully grown pike: it is tall and thin and has a big mouth. The pike is also referred to as the tiger of the sea. Laying still and trusting its camouflage, pike prey on smaller fish, small mammals and sometimes even their own kind. When it spots a prey it slowly turns right towards it. As the prey fish comes at a striking distance the pike strings its body into the form of the letter S and darts like a rocket to hit the victim’s side. With its seven hundred teeth the pike can hold the prey tight in its grip. The pike always swallows its prey head first. Pikes are present throughout Finland in almost all bodies of water. The biggest pike caught in Finland weighed almost eighteen kilograms (that is approximately 39.6 pounds).
