Yellow Perch

A freshwater fish native to central North America, especially the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River basin and the upper Mississippi River catchment, ranging from Nova Scotia through the Canadian prairie provinces south to Ohio and Illinois. Its elongated, laterally compressed body is green to golden brown on top with six to eight dark vertical bars on yellowish flanks, and it has two dorsal fins and rough scales. Most individuals reach about 19 centimeters, with a recorded maximum of 50 centimeters, and it favors the shallow, vegetated littoral zones of lakes as well as slow rivers, streams, ponds and wetlands. Young fish eat zooplankton and small invertebrates, while older perch take aquatic invertebrates, fish eggs, crayfish and small fish.