American Pickerel

The American pickerel (Esox americanus) is a medium-sized species of North American freshwater predatory fish belonging to the pike family. The genus Esox is placed in the family Esocidae (in the order Esociformes).

Two subspecies are sometimes recognised:

Redfin pickerel, sometimes called the brook pickerel, E. americanus americanus Gmelin, 1789;

Grass pickerel, E. americanus vermiculatus Lesueur, 1846.

Lesueur originally classified the grass pickerel as E. vermiculatus, but it is now considered a subspecies of E. americanus.

There is no widely accepted English common collective name for the two E. americanus subspecies; "American pickerel" is a translation of the French systematic name brochet d'Amérique.