Perca flavescens

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.

Yellow perch are usually in clear weedy backwaters or pools of creeks and small to large rivers, shallow waters of lakes, and large ponds. Often they are associated with heavy growths of aquatic plants in lakes. They occur and spawn in brackish water in some areas. Spawning occurs in spring or late winter over submerged beds of aquatic plants or brush, or over sand, gravel, or rubble, in quiet water (Moyle 1976, Sublette et al. 1990). Sometimes they migrate into tributary streams or from brackish to freshwater to spawn (Scott and Crossman 1973). Eggs are deposited at depths of up to 4 meters (Sublette et al. 1990).

Tends to form loose schools.

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).