The northern pike (Esox lucius), known simply as a pike in Britain, Ireland, most of Canada, and most parts of the United States, (also called jackfish or simply "northern" in the U.S. Upper Midwest and in Manitoba), is a species of carnivorous fish of the genus Esox (the pikes). They are typical of brackish and fresh waters of the Northern Hemisphere (i.e. holarctic in distribution).