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White Perch Information
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Thank you for visiting White Perch Information. We try to provide you with the most complete information we can about fish and fishing. We update our sources constantly. Please scroll down to learn more.

White Perch
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Biology
The White Perch is a member of the bass family and not a true perch. It is also called silver perch, sea perch, silver bass, bass, narrow-mouthed bass, and bass perch. Distribution White perch are found in fresh and brackish waters along the Atlantic coast from the southern Gulf of St. Lawrence to North Carolina and inland along the upper St. Lawrence River to the lower Great Lakes. It is present in all three Maritime provinces.

Physical Deiscription
The white perch has the following characteristics:

• a deep, thin body that slopes up steeply from the eye to the beginning of the dorsal fin;
• colors which can be olive, grey-green, silvery-grey, dark brown, or black on the back, becoming a lighter green on the sides and silvery-white on the belly;
• the pelvic and anal fins (both on the belly) are sometimes rosy coloured;
• like all members of the bass family, it has two dorsal fins on the back and the pelvic fins sit forward on the body below the pectoral fins. The first dorsal fin has nine spines but the second one is soft-rayed;
• there are three spines at the front of the anal fin, and a single spine precedes the second dorsal fin and each pelvic fin;
• it has many small sharp teeth;
• its scales are relatively large and the lateral line is complete.
• it can be up to 19 inches log and weigh up to 6 pounds.
• It's shape is similar to the striped bass. However, the white perch has a deeper, less rounded body than the striped bass, and lacks the 6 to 10 horizontal stripes found on striped bass.

Facts About White Perch
The oldest known white perch lived 17 years.
The world angling record for white perch is a 2.15 kg (4-7 lb) fish taken in Messalonskee Lake, Maine, in 1949.

Fishing Facts
The white perch has very tasty flesh and where it grows large enough, can be a popular sportfish. They are caught on bait (worms, small minnows) lures, or streamer-type flies.

White perch are fished commercially in Chesapeake Bay and the lower Great Lakes. Natural History

White perch can live in fresh or salt water. It can be found in freshwater lakes and ponds and in some coastal rivers and estuaries.

Spawning takes place in the Spring when water temperature reaches 55-60ø F in shallow water. Males and females will spawn several times. The tiny eggs become sticky after fertilization and attach to vegetation and bottom materials. White perch are very prolific; a female can produce 247,700 eggs.

The length of time for hatching depends on the water temperature. When the water is cooler, hatching takes longer (4 to 4.5 days at 60ø F but only about 30 hours at 68ø F. Newly-hatched white perch feed on plankton. They grow rapidly and can reach 65 mm (2.5 in) by late summer.

White perch in lakes will feed day and night. Fresh and saltwater populations move to surface (or inshore) waters at night, retreating to deeper water during the day.

Perch eat mostly aquatic insect larvae when they are small. As they grow, many kinds of fish such as smelt, yellow perch, killifsh, and other white perch are eaten. They usually mature at 3 years and live 5 to 7 years. White perch are thought to compete with some game fishes for food. In some places, a lack of harvesting, either by anglers or other species of fish, can lead to large populations of stunted, small white perch.

Perch predators are smallmouth bass, chain pickerel and trout.

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