Esocidae is a family of

ray-finned fish Actinopterygii (; ), members of which are known as ray-finned fish or actinopterygians, is a class of bony fish that comprise over 50% of living vertebrate species. They are so called because of their lightly built fins made of webbings of sk ...

in the order Salmoniformes, which contains pike, pickerel, and mudminnows. While the family traditionally only contained the genus ''

Esox ''Esox'' is a genus of freshwater fish commonly known as pike or pickerel. It is the type genus of the family (biology), family Esocidae. The type species of the genus is ''Esox lucius'', the northern pike. ''Esox'' have a fossil record exten ...

'', recent genetic and paleontological research have recovered '' Novumbra'' and '' Dallia'' as members of the family Esocidae, being closer related to ''Esox'' than '' Umbra''. Fossil specimens from the

Mesozoic The Mesozoic Era is the Era (geology), era of Earth's Geologic time scale, geological history, lasting from about , comprising the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous Period (geology), Periods. It is characterized by the dominance of archosaurian r ...

in North America have been assigned as two additional genera in this family, although they may actually be more basal.

Taxonomy

The family is classified as follows: * Family Esocidae ** Subfamily Dalliinae

Jordan Jordan, officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, is a country in the Southern Levant region of West Asia. Jordan is bordered by Syria to the north, Iraq to the east, Saudi Arabia to the south, and Israel and the occupied Palestinian ter ...

, 1885 *** Genus '' Dallia''

Bean A bean is the seed of some plants in the legume family (Fabaceae) used as a vegetable for human consumption or animal feed. The seeds are often preserved through drying (a ''pulse''), but fresh beans are also sold. Dried beans are traditi ...

, 1880 ** Subfamily Esocinae Rafinesque, 1815 *** Genus ''

Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné,#Blunt, Blunt (2004), p. 171. was a Swedish biologist and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the modern system of naming o ...

, 1758 *** Genus '' Novumbra'' Schultz, 1929

Classification

''Esox'' is the youngest genus, with ''Dallia'' and ''Novumbra'' branching off further up the line. The cladogram below has been found by López ''et al.'', with the two additional fossil genera included at the base of the tree. The fossil genera ''Estesesox'' and ''Oldmanesox'' have been recovered in North America. '' Estesesox'' fossils have been described from the Lance, Hell Creek, Oldman, Foremost, and Milk River Formations. '' Oldmanesox'' fossils have been described from the Oldman Formation. In 2025, two more fossil esocid genera were described from the Prince Creek Formation of Alaska: '' Archaeosiilik'' and '' Nunikuluk''. Due to the fragmentary nature of ''Oldmanesox'' and ''Estesesox'', little information on the exact relationships between the two genera and the rest of the species in the family has been published. More recent genetic studies which place ''Dallia'' and ''Novumbra'' in Esocidae may influence future studies on placement of ''Estesesox'' and ''Oldmanesox'' within the Esocidae and/or Esociformes family trees.

Distribution

Esocidae has a

holarctic The Holarctic realm is a biogeographic realm that comprises the majority of habitats found throughout the continents in the Northern Hemisphere. It corresponds to the floristic Boreal Kingdom. It includes both the Nearctic zoogeographical reg ...

distribution. Species in the genus ''Esox'' can be found in Eurasia and North America, while '' Dallia'' has a more restricted range in

Alaska Alaska ( ) is a non-contiguous U.S. state on the northwest extremity of North America. Part of the Western United States region, it is one of the two non-contiguous U.S. states, alongside Hawaii. Alaska is also considered to be the north ...

and eastern

Siberia Siberia ( ; , ) is an extensive geographical region comprising all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has formed a part of the sovereign territory of Russia and its predecessor states ...

. Of extant esocids, '' Novumbra'' has the most restricted range of all, being found only on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington state.

Behavior

Despite differing size and mouth shape, all extant species of esocids are sight-based ambush predators, taking any animal they can fit in their mouth. Both pike and blackfishes display cannibalistic tendencies. While the Olympic mudminnow is aggressively territorial to fish of the same size during the spawning season, it will generally leave its fry alone.

References

Taxa named by Georges Cuvier Euteleostei families {{Esociformes-stub