So we came upon an interesting story pertaining to one of the most unique fish in all of North America, the Tiger Muskie.
In fact, this fish is so unique that to our knowledge, it doesn’t even have a scientific name. That’s because it’s a cross between a Muskellunge (Esox masquinongy) and a Northern Pike (Esox lucius). When crossed with each other you come up with either an Esox masquinongy × lucius or an Esox lucius × masquinongy.
Confused yet?
The reason we showed you both variations is because it matters when it comes to which eggs and milt are mixed. A Tiger Muskie can be created with either a Pike’s eggs and a Muskie’s milt (sperm) or a Muskie’s eggs and a Pike’s milt.
In this news piece, we found out that the normal “spawn” procedure in most hatcheries is eggs from a female Pike with sperm from a male Muskie. A couple of problems have been noticed. First off, captive female Pike at the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources hatcheries weren’t producing enough eggs (probably captivity vs wild natural environments). Secondly, when a brood stock was produced from a female Muskie and male Pike, the young became very cannibalistic towards each other. A seemingly can’t-win situation.
Well, the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources hatcheries people seem to have been working on a solution.
Our feature image is from Chris Johnston (good friend and often a guest on the Outdoor Journal Podcast Networks Eating Wild Podcast) where he’s holding up a gorgeous specimen of a Tiger Muskie. Note the stunning markings on this fish and that’s what Tigers are all about.
As an FYI, this is a big one for this species, pretty much an exception to the rule.
Thanks, Chris!
