pirate perch

n.
A small North American freshwater fish (Aphredoderus sayanus) noted for having the anal opening near the throat.

Aphredoderus sayanus

FAMILY

Aphredoderidae

TAXONOMY

Scolopsis sayanus (Gilliams, 1824), fishponds, Harrowgate, "near Philadelphia." Two subspecies have been proposed.

OTHER COMMON NAMES

German: Piratenbarsch.

PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS

Grows to 5.51 in (14.0 cm). A short, deep body, with a large head and mouth and a protruding jaw. They lack an adipose fin, and the lateral line is either absent or incomplete. The head is covered by ctenoid scales on the sides.

DISTRIBUTION

This species is found in waters of the Atlantic and Gulf slopes, the Mississippi Valley, and scattered parts of the eastern Great Lakes Basin in the United States from Minnesota south through the Mississippi Valley across the Gulf coast to Florida and north along the Atlantic coast to New York. It also can be found in the southeastern corner of Oklahoma, in the easternmost tributaries of the Red River, and throughout the Coastal Plain of Arkansas (but not in the Ozark Mountains). There are isolated populations in the Lake Ontario and Lake Erie drainages in New York, and the species has been reported in Wisconsin outside what is considered their native range, which suggests introduction. Populations on the Atlantic slope have been considered a subspecies (Aphredoderus sayanus sayanus) distinct from the subpopulation of the Mississippi Valley (A. s. gibbosus). The populations from the Gulf of Mexico drainage have been termed intermediate.

HABITAT

They usually occur over mud in quiet bodies of water, such as swamps, vegetated sloughs, ponds, oxbow lakes, ditches, backwaters, and pools of creeks and in small to large rivers on mud and silt bottoms. Adults most frequently are found at sites whose bottoms are overlain with leaf litter. The larvae of this species can be quite abundant in some areas.

BEHAVIOR

This is a solitary and crepuscular species.

FEEDING ECOLOGY AND DIET

They feed on insects, blue-green algae, and small crustaceans and fishes, which suggests that, like other members of this order, they are an opportunistic species that goes after almost any food item. Vulnerable to dragonfly nymphs, larger fishes, water snakes, and fish-eating birds.

REPRODUCTIVE BIOLOGY

The major spawning period for pirate perch in the Atchafalaya River Basin, Louisiana, is February through March. It appears that adult pirate perch are not branchial brooders but rather release their adhesive eggs over leaf litter and woody debris. They can live up to four years or longer.

CONSERVATION STATUS

Not listed by the IUCN.

SIGNIFICANCE TO HUMANS

This species is considered a water quality indicator species by the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality for the Gulf Coastal Ecoregion.