SCIENTISTS from Inland Fisheries Ireland, led by Debbi Pedreschi of UCD, have studied the history of pike in Ireland.
Their findings put the cat, or at any rate the fish, among the proverbial pigeons; a new theory on the origins of our ‘freshwater tiger’ has emerged.
The pike, up to now, was regarded as an introduced alien species. The Irish name ‘gailliasc’, the ‘foreign fish’, seemed to attest to that. No illustrations of this large lake-dweller appear in medieval manuscripts, although the salmon and the eel feature prominently. The first written references to pike appeared in the 16th century, suggesting that this sport fish arrived here around then.
That pike were introduced seemed a plausible theory. So-called ‘diadromous’ species, such as eels salmonids and lampreys, can move between fresh and salt water. When the ice covering this part of the world melted, 8,000 years ago, they were able to cross the sea and enter Irish rivers. Pike, and the other ‘coarse’ fish, would die if they ventured into the ocean. They couldn’t reach Ireland, or so it was thought…..
Irish Examiner 02/12/2013 Read the article ‘Pike may not be invader species‘
