Yellow perch facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Yellow perch |
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The yellow perch (Perca flavescens) is a common freshwater fish. People also call it perch, striped perch, or American perch. It lives in many parts of North America. This fish was first described in 1814 by Samuel Latham Mitchill in New York. It looks a lot like the European perch (Perca fluviatilis). Sometimes, people even think it's a type of European perch.
Yellow perch can live for 9 to 10 years. Adult fish are usually about 10 to 25 centimeters (4 to 10 inches) long. Their size and how fast they grow can change depending on where they live. This is often because of how long the days are and how warm the water gets each year. The biggest yellow perch ever caught was 4 pounds 3 ounces (1.9 kilograms) and 46 centimeters (18 inches) long. This happened in 1865 in New Jersey. It's still the oldest record for a freshwater fish in North America!
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What Does a Yellow Perch Look Like?
The yellow perch has a long, oval body. Its snout is a bit blunt and doesn't stick out past its lower jaw. Like most perch, it has two separate fins on its back. The first back fin has 12-14 sharp spines. The second back fin has 2-3 spines and 12-13 soft rays. The fin on its belly (anal fin) has 2 spines and 7-8 soft rays.
The top of its head and body can be bright green, olive, or golden brown. But usually, they are golden yellow. This color extends down its sides, forming 6-8 dark vertical stripes. These stripes are on a yellow or yellowish-green background. They often have a dark spot on the first back fin. The fins on its back and tail can be yellow or green. The fins on its belly and near its bottom can be yellow or silvery-white. The fins near its gills are clear and amber. Its belly is white. Young perch are lighter in color, almost whitish.
The longest yellow perch ever recorded was 50 centimeters (20 inches). But they are usually around 19.1 centimeters (7.5 inches) long. The heaviest recorded yellow perch was 1.9 kilograms (4.2 pounds).
Where Do Yellow Perch Live?
Yellow perch are only found in North America. They naturally live in areas that drain into the Arctic Ocean and Atlantic Ocean. They also live in the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River and Mississippi River basins.
In Canada, you can find them from Nova Scotia and Quebec all the way north to the Mackenzie River. They are also common in the northwest, like in Great Slave Lake and western Alberta. In the United States, their natural home goes south into Ohio and Illinois. They are found throughout most of the northeastern United States. There's also a small natural group in the Dead Lakes area of the Apalachicola River system in Florida.
People have also moved yellow perch to many new places. This was done for sport fishing and to help other fish like bass and walleye have food. Most of these moves happened in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Sometimes, people also moved them illegally, or they spread through connected waterways. Now, you can find them in isolated areas in the northwest and southwest United States. Yellow perch have not been moved outside of North America.
Yellow Perch Life Cycle and Reproduction
Yellow perch usually become ready to have babies when they are 2–3 years old for males, and 3–4 years old for females. They lay eggs every spring when the water temperature is between 2.0 and 18.6°C (35.6 and 65.5°F). They spawn together in groups, usually at night.
Yellow perch lay their eggs in a unique, jelly-like string. This string can have 10,000–40,000 eggs! It's a special feature among North American freshwater fish. The egg strings are often draped over underwater plants, tree branches, or other structures. The eggs hatch in 11–27 days. How fast they hatch depends on the water temperature and other things in their environment.
They often live in the shallow parts of both large and small lakes. But they also live in slow-moving rivers, streams, and ponds. Yellow perch usually stay in shallow water. However, sometimes they can be found deeper than 15 meters (49 feet) or on the bottom.
In colder northern waters, perch tend to live longer but grow more slowly. Female perch are generally bigger, grow faster, live longer, and become mature later than males. Most studies show they live about 9–10 years, with a few living past 11 years. Yellow perch prefer water temperatures between 17 and 25°C (63 and 77°F). Their best temperature range is 21 to 24°C (70 to 75°F). They can get stressed if the water is over 26°C (79°F) and can die if it's over 33°C (91°F).
Yellow perch spawn once a year in spring. They use large groups and shallow areas of a lake or slow-moving streams. They don't build a nest. Spawning usually happens at night or early in the morning. Females can lay eggs up to eight times in their lives.
What Do Yellow Perch Eat?
What yellow perch eat depends on their age and size. Young perch and babies mostly eat tiny water animals called zooplankton. By the time they are one year old, they start eating larger bugs like midges and mosquitos. Big adult perch eat bugs, fish eggs, crayfish, and small fish. Sometimes, they even eat other small yellow perch! About 20% of the diet of a yellow perch over 32 grams (1.1 ounces) is small fish. They eat the most just before dark.
Yellow perch usually live near the shore among reeds, water plants, docks, and other structures. They are most common in places with lots of water plants. They like small, weedy waters with muddy, gravel, or sandy bottoms. They are less common in deep, clear open water. In rivers, they only visit pools and slow-moving, vegetated areas.
Many predatory fish eat yellow perch. These include northern pike, muskellunge, bass, sunfish, crappie, walleye, trout, and even other yellow perch. They are a main food source for walleye. In some lakes, largemouth bass are very important in how healthy yellow perch populations are.
Yellow perch are also a very important food source for birds in eastern North America. Birds like double-crested cormorants, eagles, herring gulls, hawks, and diving ducks eat them.
Perch are usually active during the day and rest at night. But during spawning, they are active day and night. Perch often swim in schools, which are groups of fish. Their eyesight helps them stay in schools. The schools break up at night and form again in the morning. These schools usually have 50 to 200 fish. Younger perch tend to school more than older, larger fish. Males and females often form separate schools. Some perch travel short distances, but they are not fast swimmers.
Fishing for Yellow Perch
Yellow perch are a popular fish for both fun fishing and commercial fishing. People love them because they taste delicious and mild. Because they are so tasty, some restaurants might call other fish "perch" on their menus.
Yellow perch are usually easy to catch once you find a school. They often bite lures meant for other fish, like small tubes, minnow-shaped lures, and small, bright spoons. The easiest way to catch them is to use light fishing line (4 to 8 pound test) and small, light jig heads (1/32–1/16 ounce). Thin, straight-tail lures work well when the fish aren't biting much.
Good baits for perch include worms, live or dead minnows, small freshwater clams, and crickets. Larger perch are often caught using large live minnows on a jighead, especially over weed beds. If you use a bobber, a thin, spindle-shaped one is best because it offers less resistance when the fish bites.
Sometimes, too much fishing can harm yellow perch populations. So, fishing agencies often set rules for how many fish can be caught. Yellow perch are also a very important food source for bigger fish that eat other fish. Many fishing lures are made to look like yellow perch because of this.
Yellow Perch Farming
Yellow perch are a good fish to raise on farms. They can gain a lot of weight in a few years when raised in outdoor ponds. Yellow perch are good for farming because they don't need a lot of protein in their food. They also eat fish pellets and grow well when many are kept together because they like to school. They don't become cannibals (eat each other) even in crowded conditions. Farmed yellow perch taste just as good as wild ones.
In nature, yellow perch become ready to reproduce before they reach market size. But by controlling the water temperature in farms, they can grow big enough to sell before they start reproducing.
Yellow Perch in the Market
The demand for wild yellow perch has gone down because of too much fishing in the 1960s and 70s. But farmed perch have become more popular. Farmed yellow perch help reduce the need to catch so many fish from lakes and rivers. Both local and international markets see that farmed perch are often just as good as wild perch. The yellow perch farming industry has added over 50 metric tons of farmed fish to the market. This helps meet the demand without overfishing wild populations.
The demand for yellow perch is growing and is expected to increase by 2.3% over the next ten years. Yellow perch are a global fish, with many different types around the world. This helps with the international fish trade. For the perch market to keep growing, there needs to be plenty of perch. This means we need to limit pollution that can harm them in the water.
See also
In Spanish: Perca flavescens para niños
