SCIENTIFIC NAME:
Perca flavescens
CHARACTERISTICS:
This moderately large, yellow percid is distinguished by a serrated preopercle and a large black spot at the posterior base of the spiny dorsal fin. Most individuals have six to nine black saddles across the back, continuing down the sides to below the midlateral area. The body has yellowish green or golden yellow color on the back, lighter yellow on the sides, and a white venter and breast. Dorsal and caudal fins are olive yellow; pectoral fins silvery orange or yellow. The pelvic and anal fins are yellowish orange on individuals in the Tennessee River drainage and Chattahoochee River system and bright red on individuals from tributaries of the Mobile Delta.
ADULT SIZE:
3 to 12 in (75 to 300 mm).
STATE RECORD:
a list of the State Record Freshwater Fish.
DISTRIBUTION:
Populations in the Tennessee River drainage and Chattahoochee River system are introduced. A single 1964 Choctawhatchee River system specimen housed at the University of Michigan Museum of Zoology is puzzling; no other individuals of yellow perch have been collected from that drainage. Populations in the Mobile Delta are native, based on collections made in 1851 housed at Harvard University (Smith-Vaniz, 1968). Yellow perch bones were also recovered from an archaeological excavation in Mobile dating to French occupation in 1702-20 (Sheldon and Cottier, 1983). Our samples from four delta tributaries confirm that the species still exists in the area. The single observation in the upper Tombigbee River system probably resulted from migration through the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway.
HABITAT AND BIOLOGY:
We have collected yellow perch in a variety of habitats, including moderate to large flowing streams and rivers, tannin-stained tributaries of the Mobile Delta, and reservoirs. Most fish remain in deep water during the day and move closer to shore to feed during the evening hours. Spawning occurs from March to May, when gelatinous strands of eggs are scattered over sand and gravel substrates or draped over vegetation or submerged snags. Small yellow perch eat microcrustaceans and insect larvae. Large adults consume small fishes, large crustaceans, and are occasionally caught by anglers fishing for crappie with live minnows.
ORIGINAL DESCRIPTION:
Mitchill described yellow perch in 1814.
ETYMOLOGY:
Perca means perch.
Flavescens means yellow.
The copyrighted information above is from Fishes of Alabama and the Mobile Basin.
