Carina Lillbacka was out fishing with her husband in Göksjön near Bygdeträsk.

They were hoping to catch some pike and soon it caught on the hook - and a white fish came up.

- I felt that it was something big and I was almost not getting it up.

When I saw the head above the water surface, the first thought was "can this be a cod?"

says Carina Lillbacka.

On closer inspection, the fish was suspected to be a pike.

The pair thought it might be an albino variant, but the white pike did not have red eyes.

- We did not know if it had a disease but we put it in the freezer for so long.

The pike weighed 6.5 kilos.

Can be mutation: "Really special"

- No matter how cool, this was completely different, exclaims the biologist Bent Christensson, senior lecturer at Umeå University, when he sees the pictures.

According to him, pike can change slightly in color depending on the background, but in this case it is probably a mutation.

- I guess this fish has a defect in the storage of color pigments in the skin.

It is unusual with light pike but this one was really special.

I do not think I have seen anything like it.

What are you going to do with the pike now?

- We will probably not dare to eat it, laughs Carina Lillbacka.

The white pike with its usual yellow eyes does not seem to be any kind of albino.

Photo: private