Pantsirnaya pike - predator, armored

Already one appearance of this freshwater fish can be judged by its predatory habits and extraordinary agility. Pantsyarnaya pike (photos this clearly demonstrate) has a long arrow-shaped body with a powerful tail and slightly deflected fins that allows it to make rapid rolls. The habitat is the water area of the Caribbean Sea, as well as the freshwater reservoirs of North and Central America.

Pancake pike exists on the planet for more than two hundred million years, since the Cretaceous period. Now there are seven varieties of these fish. Among them there is even a decorative view - a shell pike aquarium, which, unlike its relatives, grows no more than thirty centimeters. Over the last hundred million years, these creatures, belonging to the order of the panzernikobraznye ray-ray class, have undergone absolutely no evolutionary changes, which gives modern scientists certain ideas about the appearance and habits of prehistoric freshwater fish.

The pike pike, like a medieval knight dressed in armor, is the undisputed mistress of the large rivers with their numerous tributaries that carry their waters to the Gulf of Mexico. These freshwater creatures, in addition, are also perfectly breathing atmospheric air due to their well-developed swimming bladder. The pike pike was not in vain received its name: its body, resembling the shape of an ordinary pike, covers a solid and extremely durable shell. It consists of large diamond-shaped scales covered from the outside with a special substance - ganoin, which is extremely similar in composition to the enamel of the teeth of terrestrial animals and humans.

Due to this shell is so strong that the spears of the submerged gun from it bounce off, as from an armor plate. Pancake pike is also called Cayman fish because of its long snout, which looks like a crocodile's head, which is combined with completely crocodile habits. And the fish in the water has such a striking resemblance to the caiman that fishermen often confuse these extremely different representatives of the water world.

All armored pikes, as noted above, are typical freshwater fish, although they can often be found in the saline waters of the Caribbean Sea. Even at a fairly young age they begin to awaken predatory instincts. Having barely reached a length of five centimeters, they go out on their first hunt, attacking the fry of other fish. As a rule, armored pikes use ambush tactics, securing prey from the shelter.

This is where their crocodile manner manifests in all its splendor. Like these bloodthirsty assassins, the shell of the powerful jaws grabs the victim across the body and can hold it in this position long enough before finally swallowing the exhausted prey. However, despite their quite impressive size (some individuals reach four meters in length and weigh about 150 kg), for people, these ferocious and aggressive predators do not pose a great danger.

Worried by a swimmer or fishermen, the shells prefer to flee, instantly leaving to the depth. As demonstrated by a group of American scientists conducted in the lower reaches of the Mississippi River, attacks of these predators on humans are extremely rare, even with direct contact. Aggression towards people is possible only when the armored pike is extremely hungry, injured or greatly frightened.

As for their habits, it should be noted that these predatory inhabitants of freshwater bodies spend most of the time motionless, frozen in the water column. Only in the summer, which is characterized by a significant decrease in oxygen in the water, the shells float to the surface to breathe in fresh air.

The meat of these fish is practically not eaten by humans, because it is extremely tough and has a specific flavor. Caviar of shellfish is also inedible due to its virulence, although the ovaries of large females sometimes reach a mass of ten kilograms.