Editing Chain pickerel (section)

==Description==
The chain pickerel has a distinctive, dark, chain-like pattern on its greenish sides. There is a vertical dark marking underneath the eye, which helps to distinguish the chain pickerel from [[redfin pickerel]] (''Esox americanus americanus'') and [[grass pickerel]] (''E. americanus vermiculatus''), in which the mark curves posteriorly.<ref name="Kirk">{{cite web |last=Kirk|first=Jacob|title=Chain Pickerel (''Esox niger'')|url=https://www.cfr.msstate.edu/wildlife/fisheries/?a=detail&id=70&info=|publisher=Mississippi State University|website=Fishes of Mississippi|access-date=11 December 2022|date=11 December 2022}}</ref>  Its body outline resembles that of the [[northern pike]] (''E. lucius''). Unlike northern pike, however, the [[opercle]]s and cheeks of chain pickerel are entirely scaled.<ref name=range/>  It may reach up to {{convert|78.7|cm|in}} long only on rare occasions.<ref name="Kirk"/>  The average size for chain pickerel, however, is 24&nbsp;in (61 cm) and 3&nbsp;lb (1 1/2 kg). (The average chain pickerel caught by fishermen is under 2&nbsp;lb).  It lives around 8 yr. In some places{{where|date=December 2022}} the pickerel is known as a "gunfish", "gunny" or "slime dart",{{citation needed|date=December 2022}} due to its characteristic slime coating.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.lohud.com/story/sports/columnists/2014/05/19/outdoors-time-target-pickerel/9312245/|title=Outdoors: It's time to target pickerel|access-date=10 December 2022|last=Sapir|first=Glenn|date=19 May 2014|website=lohud.}}</ref>

A blue color morph lacking the usual reticulated pattern has been described in a [[New York (state)|New York]] population.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Menzel|first1=Bruce W.|last2=Green Jr.|first2=David M.|title=A Color Mutant of the Chain Pickerel, ''Esox niger'' LeSueur|journal=Transactions of the American Fisheries Society|doi=10.1577/1548-8659(1972)101<370:ACMOTC>2.0.CO;2|pages=370–372|volume=101|issue=2|year=1972}}</ref>