Twenty "choked to death on duck"

A pike washed up dead at a Lincolnshire nature reserve choked to death on a duck, according to the local wildlife trust.

Staff at the Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust found the fish, which they claimed measured four feet long at a gravel pit.

On examining it, they found a tufted duck stuck in its throat and assume this is what brought about its demise.

Karen Gray of Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust, told Practical Fishkeeping magazine: "It was too slippery to grip with gloves and the teeth were too sharp to pull it in to look at properly, so I grabbed it by the gill covers. It was then that I could see the adult duck wedged right down the back of its throat.

"I suppose all the backward facing teeth in the roof of its mouth prevented it spitting the unlucky duck out."

Ms Gray said she planned to clean the skull of the pike and show it to visiting school children. She reckoned the head was 16" long.

But that's nothing compared to a fish one Practical Fishkeeping reader said they'd seen.

"There is a preseved skull of a pike in Glasgow ( Kelvingrove Art Gallery And Museum) that was found on the shores of Loch Lomond and is of a pike that was at least NINE FEET in length," one says in the comments box at the end of the story.

"If you don't believe me , go to the Museum and see it for yourself! It really is quite amazing that these fish can reach this size!"

If you don't believe us, you can read more here .