---
title: "American Pickerel"
description: "Esox americanus — Vissen. The American pickerel (Esox americanus) is a medium-sized species of North American freshwater predatory fish belonging to the pike family."
canonical: https://animalchecklist.com/nl/animal/american-pickerel
last_updated: 2026-09-20
---

# American Pickerel

> Esox americanus — Vissen. The American pickerel (Esox americanus) is a medium-sized species of North American freshwater predatory fish belonging to the pike family.

- Scientific name: *Esox americanus*
- Category: `fish` (Vissen)
- Habitats: `freshwater` (Meren en rivieren)
- iNaturalist observations: 2896
- Wikidata: [Q93675](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q93675)
- iNaturalist taxon: [100428](https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/100428)

## Names

- en: American Pickerel
- de: Amerikanischer Hecht
- es: Lucio americano
- fr: Brochet d'Amérique

## Countries with the most observations

US (2523), CA (76)

## Summary

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…

Text: Wikipedia (en), CC BY-SA 4.0 — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_pickerel

## Photo

![American Pickerel](https://animalchecklist.com/img/animals/american-pickerel/medium.jpg)

Photo: Etienne Falquet · CC0 · inaturalist — https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/181639982

## Machine access

`GET https://animalchecklist.com/api/v1/animals/american-pickerel?lang=nl` — see [openapi.json](https://animalchecklist.com/openapi.json).