Species: Perca flavescens

Yellow Perch

Species

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Encyclopedia of Puget Sound

Body fairly deep and compressed; two dorsal fins; tail fin moderately forked; green on upper side, with 6-9 green-brown saddles or bars on yellow sides; black blotch at rear of first dorsal fin; paired fins yellow ro red; large mouth extends to middle of eye. Total length to around 40 cm. Eggs: in pleated or folded gelatinous strands up to several feet long.

Classification

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Craniata

Class

Actinopterygii

Order

Perciformes

Family

Percidae

Genus

Perca

NatureServe

Source:
ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.102985

Classification

Other Global Common Names

perchaude

Informal Taxonomy

Animals, Vertebrates - Fishes - Bony Fishes - Perches and Darters

Formal Taxonomy

Animalia - Craniata - Actinopterygii - Perciformes - Percidae - Perca - are separate species (Marsden et al. 1995).

Ecology and Life History

Habitat Type Description

Freshwater

Migration

false - true - false - May migrate from lakes into tributary rivers to spawn, or into fresh water from brackish water (Scott and Crossman 1973).

Non-migrant

false

Locally Migrant

true

Food Comments

Larvae and young primarily zooplankton feeders; older young eat mostly invertebrates associated with bottom and with aquatic plants; adults feed among plants and along bottom on larger invertebrates and small fishes (Moyle 1976).

Reproduction Comments

Spawning occurs in spring or late winter. Eggs hatch in about 10-20 days. In the north, males become sexually mature in 2-3 years, females in 3-4 years (Moyle 1976, Becker 1983, Scott and Crossman 1973). Females may spawn up to about 8 times in their lifetime; maximum age is about 10 years (Bart and Page 1992).

Ecology Comments

Tends to form loose schools.

Length

Conservation Status

NatureServe Global Status Rank

Global Status Last Reviewed

1996-09-24

Global Status Last Changed

1996-09-24

Distribution

Conservation Status Map

Global Range

This species is native throughout much of northern North America east of the Rockies in Atlantic, Arctic, Great Lakes, and Mississippi River basins, from Nova Scotia and Quebec west to Great Slave Lake, Northwest Territories, and south to Ohio, Illinois, and Nebraska, and south in Atlantic drainages to Santee River, South Carolina. It has been introduced in most western states and elsewhere.

ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.102985