(male muskellunge x female northern pike)
Other names -- tiger musky, normie, silver northern.
The first Iowa muskellunge x northern pike hybridization was successfully conducted in l965 at the Spirit Lake hatchery. The resulting hybrids were placed into Center Lake, a small natural lake. At that time, little or no interest was shown by fishery managers to release this hybrid into other water. However, by l978 the tiger musky`s time had come as a "trophy class" fish species, and this exciting new fish was released into nine southern Iowa man-made recreational lakes. By l983, the program was expanded to 27 lakes with a combined surface area of nearly 23,000 acres.
Tiger musky, as might be expected from hybridization, display the cheek and gill cover scale pattern of the northern pike (entire cheek and upper half of the gill cover) and body markings of the musky. The sensory pores vary from 5 to 8 on a side but usually have 5. The number of lateral line scales are intermediate between the parent species ranging form l29 to l4l. Anal fin ray counts are the same as the musky, l6 to l9, but more than the northern pike. Dorsal fin rays number l8 to 2l. The branchostegal rays vary from l7 to l8 -- the same as musky.
Like all members of the pike family, the tiger musky is carnivorous. The fry are confinement raised in the hatchery to fingerling size 6 to 8 inches on a prepared diet. The fish rapidly converts to natural food organisms upon release in the wild. It is suspected that the main diet of the stocked hybrid is other fish.
Iowa hybrid musky start in the Spirit Lake hatchery as a cross between the female northern pike and male muskellunge. This is the opposite of most crossings but has proven to have the best timing scheme for Iowa production. That is, gravid female northerns are held over in the hatchery a few days until male musky start to ripen. The resulting offspring exhibits hybrid vigor with growth rates exceeding either parent stock. The current state record tiger musky weighed 24 pounds, l ounce, measured 46 3/4 inches in length, and was caught in West Lake Okoboji. The fish was probably a natural cross between a stocked purebred musky and a native northern pike. Tiger musky reach very large size. In 1919, on the boundary waters of Wisconsin and Michigan, a hybrid was caught that tipped the scales at 51 pounds, 3 ounces.
The hybrid musky program is the newest of the pike family introductions in Iowa. The number of lakes stocked with tiger musky has grown from 9 in 1978 to 34 in 1984, with over 800,000 total fish planted. The program met with outstanding success at first, but dropped off in the 1990's. Tiger muskies are no longer regularly stocked by the Iowa DNR.
This information obtained from the Iowa Department of Natural Resources - Fisheries Department.