Species: Sander vitreus

Walleye

Species

Fishes

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Invasive species: fishes

Encyclopedia of Puget Sound

Classification

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Craniata

Class

Actinopterygii

Order

Perciformes

Family

Percidae

Genus

Sander

NatureServe

Source:
ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.101703

Classification

Other Global Common Names

doré jaune

Informal Taxonomy

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

Formal Taxonomy

Animalia - Craniata - Actinopterygii - Perciformes - Percidae - Sander - by Nelson et al. (2003).

Ecology and Life History

Habitat Type Description

Freshwater

Migration

true - true - false - May migrate as much as 160 km between spawning habitat and nonspawning habitat (Becker 1983). Lacustrine populations often move up rivers to spawn.

Non-migrant

true

Locally Migrant

true

Food Comments

Visual predator. Young up to 6 weeks old eat mainly copepods, Cladocera, and small fishes. Adults feed opportunistically on various fishes and larger invertebrates. In native range, yellow perch is preferred prey of adults and juveniles. Some populations feed almost exclusively on emerging larval and adult insects.

Reproduction Comments

Spawns in spring and (in north) early summer. Eggs hatch in 26 days at 4.4 C, 7 days at 14 C. Males sexually mature generally in 2-4 years, females in 3-8 years, depending on growth rate (Becker 1983, Scott and Crossman 1973). Females spawn a maximum of about 8 times in their lifetime; maximum age generally around 10 years (Bart and Page 1992).

Ecology Comments

Summer wanderings usually limited to 3-5 miles but occasionally moves much farther (Scott and Crossman 1973). In North Platte River drainage of Wyoming, preyed on fingerling trout and competed with trout for forage, especially crayfishes (see Sublette et al. 1990).

Length

Conservation Status

NatureServe Global Status Rank

Global Status Last Reviewed

1996-09-25

Global Status Last Changed

1996-09-25

Other Status

Distribution

Conservation Status Map

Global Range

Native to St. Lawrence-Great Lakes, Arctic, and Mississippi River basins from Quebec to Northwest Territories, and south to Alabama, Mississippi, and Arkansas; widely introduced elsewhere in U.S., including Atlantic, Gulf, and Pacific drainages; uncommon or locally common (Page and Burr 1991). Subspecies/form <i>glaucum</i> (blue pike) of Lake Erie, Lake Ontario, lower Niagara River, and Lake Huron (where formerly rare at most) has not been reported since 1970 and is presumed to be extinct. Native southern walleye historically occurred in all eight Mobile Basin drainages in Alabama, Georgia, and Mississippi, and in a small area of Tennessee (USFWS, Federal Register 12 September 1995).

ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.101703