Perch | Facts & Information

Origin

Perch is widespread in the northern hemisphere, found everywhere in Europe, except England, the Iberian Peninsula, Central and southern Italy, the southwestern part of the Balkan Peninsula and Crimea, as well as the Peloponnese Peninsula.

Feeding Perch

The Perch is very itchy, attacking all edible living things for it. His appetite is constant, including in winter. It even consumes fish of equal size to it, crayfish, shells, Bream, insects, insect larvae, as well as frogs swimming on the surface of the water.

Being a large consumer of caviar, perch damages other valuable fish species, in places where the population of Perch is increasing, the number of other valuable species is usually decreasing. His favorite food is fish. Of course, the perch becomes over the Raptor only after it reaches a certain age (6-8 months).

As a brood, it feeds on planktonic organisms in the water or organic matter at the bottom of the river. The perch eats plevusti, obleti, which defends itself from its attacks by leaps above the water (it follows its prey to the surface, but never jumps out of the water after it), the phenomenon of cannibalism is not alien to him, he even consumes his own offspring.

He is so greedy that in his stomach you can often see even 6-7 pieces of half-digested oblets, while holding in his mouth the 8th. The excessive appetite of Perch is known to experienced fishermen, who know how to get the maximum benefit from this feature.

Features Perch

The body of The Perch is sturdy and stocky, has a beautiful shape, in the anterior part it is wider and higher, and in the posterior half slightly flattened laterally. The entire surface of the body is covered with small and rough scales, well implanted in the skin. Because of this it is quite difficult to clean, often with skin with everything. The head has a somewhat conical shape with a relatively large mouth. Both jaws are provided with small and sharp teeth, arranged like a brush. The plates covering the opercula end in a spire.

Lateral lines accompany the curves of the body. The dorsal fins are separated from each other by a not too wide skin, the anterior dorsal fin is provided with hard spiky radii, with which the perch defends itself when needed. Once out of the water, the fish spreads its spines from this flipper and, if not cautious, the fisherman may get injured (painful stings that bleed), the dorsal fin has softer radii.

The coloring of The Perch is vivid, attractive. The head is black, as well as the back, which can also be dark gray, with marbled drawings and metallic reflections. Sometimes the color of the back acquires a shade of green. The sides are golden olive-green, sometimes yellowish-green. The flanks are transversely furrowed by 5-9 darker streaks. The belly is grey-plumber or yellowish-whitish.

At the base of the anterior dorsal fin there is a very noticeable dark round spot. The edges of the two fins are black, the ventral and anal fins are reddish. During the breeding season, the color of the flippers becomes even more intense.

Perch is an eating fish with an extremely high appetite, and yet it grows relatively slowly. The average length in our waters is 30-35 cm, and the average weight of 300-500 g. it quite rarely reaches 50-60 cm and 2-5 kg, respectively. In Lake Siutghiol were caught and 5 kg specimens, although such catches are very rare, about once in a decade.

Besides mountain waters, perch can be found in all rivers, starting from the scobarul area down. It prefers rivers with a quiet course and deeper portions, with clear waters, in lakes, ponds, ponds and in backwaters or with a very slow course, it is found near rushes or reeds, choosing especially the places where the river bed is covered with hard materials. In rivers, they also prefer places where the bottom is covered with gravel or sand, so all hard materials.

He likes places where rivers receive tributaries, where currents bring him food in abundant quantities. And the perch indulges in the areas near the various constructions in the water (bridge legs, trunks or tree roots immersed in water), in the shallows in the banks washed by the waters, where it can hide to stay on the prowl.

It is also found under different pontoons, anchored boats (boats, rafts, ferries, pontoons, etc.), because around them are formed small vortices that attract the fish with which it feeds, in places where faster waters meet with slower ones, there is also plenty of food, so the perch seeks these places with the same predilection.

As a rule, he can be found in the vicinity of the riverbed and does not really leave the place he has chosen. He can swim extremely fast, but his swimming is jerky. When needed, it pursues its prey until it catches up with it and eats it. The strong teeth in its wide-open mouth help it stop escaping prey once it has caught it.

Younger perches, usually the same age, generally live in groups. Older specimens lead a solitary life. Perch hunts during the day, feeding on an insatiable appetite. During the summer, he stays on the prowl especially in the morning and afternoon, resting in the shade in the hours with burning at noon. During the night it rests floating motionless at its hiding place, giving up this rest only in very rare cases, when its prey appears "on the tray".

Perch Breeding

Perch is a very prolific fish that reaches sexual maturity, usually in the third year of life. Very rarely, he is able to reproduce at 2 years (in places where there is abundant food). Spawning occurs when the water reaches a temperature of 10-12grc, that is, in March or early April.

The eggs are deposited in mucous strings, having the appearance of a necklace. Such a spawn necklace is 1-2 m long and 2-2.5 cm wide,and the perch instinctively fixes it on the plants growing on the bottom of the water. They often spawn near the shore, among the stones found in these portions. Females lay over 300,000 – 500,000 grains of Roe in the early morning hours.

The summer perch brood, gathered in groups, retreats with the arrival of the frosty winter days in the deeper portions of the water, where they overwinter, feeding very little. In the spring, however, they feed abundantly, which can be seen, considering the size of the two-summer brood.

This is especially evident in some northern and Eastern European waters, where, at the age of 3-4 years, perch usually reach a weight of more than 2 kg. In the waters of our country, although they consume a lot of fish, the growth rate of Perch is slower.