yellow perch

Yellow Perch
Conservation status
Secure
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Osteichthyes Order: Perciformes Family: Percidae Genus: Perca Species: P. flavescens
Binomial name
Perca flavescens Mitchill, 1814

The yellow perch (Perca flavescens) is a species of perch found in the United States and Canada, where it is often referred to by the shortform perch. Yellow perch look similar to the European perch but are paler and more yellowish, with less red in the fins. They have 6-8 dark vertical bars on their sides. The yellow perch is in the same family as the walleye and sauger, but in a different family from the white perch.

Yellow perch size can vary greatly between bodies of water, but adults are usually between 4-10 inches (10-25.5 cm) in length and weigh about 5.29 oz (150 g) on average. The perch can live for up to 11 years, and older perch are often much larger than average; the maximum recorded length is 21.0 inches (53.3 cm) and the largest recorded weight is 4.2 lb (1.91 kg). Large yellow perch are often called "jumbo perch". Yellow perch are often stocked in ponds where they are fished for. They are a popular panfish and are known to be a good eating fish.

Yellow Perch reach sexual maturity at one to three years of age for males and two to three years of age for females. Spawning occurs at the end of April or beginning of May, depositing 10,000 to 40,000 eggs upon weeds, or the branches of trees or shrubs that have become immersed in the water. After fertilization the eggs hatch in 11 to 27 days depending on temperature and other weather conditions.

Yellow Perch are one of the finest flavored of all panfish, and this has led to misuse of their name in the restaurant industry. Menus will sometimes list "White Perch", "Rock Perch" or simply "Perch" that are actually other species, usually panfish in the Centrarchidae (sunfish) family.

The Yellow Perch was introduced to Alaska in 1995 or 1996 and is in an unnamed lake on the north Kenai Peninsula. The fish collected by the USGS Alaska Department of Fish and Game collected many two to four-year-old fish. The search was in May, 2000, and they are planning to eradicate them (the fish) by poison.

Fishing

Yellow Perch are fairly easy to catch and are often caught while fishing for species in which they share the same body of water.

References

• NatureServe - Perca flavescens
• Fishbase.org - Yellow perch
• Animal Diversity Web - Yellow perch
• Cross-breeding of Yellow and European perch

• Ellis, Jack (1993). The Sunfishes-A Fly Fishing Journey of Discovery. Bennington, VT: Abenaki Publishers, Inc.. ISBN 0-936644-17-6. 

• Rice, F. Philip (1964). America's Favorite Fishing-A Complete Guide to Angling for Panfish. New York: Harper Row. 

• Rice, F. Philip (1984). Panfishing. New York: Stackpole Books. ISBN 0-943822-25-4. 

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