Northern pikeminnow

Until 1999, when the American Fisheries Society officially changed the common name to pikeminnow, the four species of this genus Ptychocheilus were known as squawfish.[5] The name squawfish is offensive to Native Americans and is a reminder of the brutalization of native women at the hands of early settlers.[6]

Northern pikeminnows can live at least 11 years, reaching up to 25 in (63 cm) in total length and 7.5 lb (3.4 kg) in weight.[2] Female northern pikeminnow reach sexual maturity at about six years, males in three to five. A mature female can lay 30,000 eggs annually. Pikeminnow are adept predators, and in the Columbia and Snake Rivers, salmon smolts comprise a large part of their diets. Their populations have flourished with the development of the Columbia River hydropower system.[7] The reservoirs have provided excellent habitat for pikeminnow and given them an advantage over depressed salmon and steelhead populations.[8]

The northern pikeminnow has been shown to consume terrestrial insects, benthic invertebrates, other fish, aquatic insects, and plant matter.[9]

While historically northern pikeminnow have not been of interest commercially nor to sport anglers, Washington and Oregon state fisheries agencies and the Bonneville Power Administration have placed a bounty[10] on them to reduce predation on scarce salmon stocks. A commercial fishery has developed based on that bounty. The current International Game Fish Association all tackle world record for northern pikeminnow is 7 lb 14 oz (3.6 kg) from the Snake River near Almota, Washington.[11]