Perch Perch! Oh wait it's a fish.
Courtney Murphy; Mitcham; Pre-AP Bio; 2nd period
At a glance...
Backround info
Habitat
- Adult yellow perch inhabit slow-moving, nearshore areas where moderate amounts of vegetation provide cover, food and protection.
- Larval yellow perch will remain in the tributaries, but will generally migrate offshore to reduce their risk from predators.
- As juveniles, they move back to the shorelines to feed on the richer, nearshore food sources; at this stage, predator avoidance has been sufficiently developed.
Predators and feeding habits
Primarily age and body size determine the diets of yellow perch. Zooplankton is the primary food source for young and larval perch. By age one, they shift to macro-invertebrates, such as midges and mosquitos. Large adult perch feed on invertebrates, fish eggs, crayfish, mysidshrimp, and juvenile fish.
Ecological Adaptations
Circulatory System Close-up
There are five main components to the Perch’s circulatory system. The first is the two chambered heart which consists of four parts: sinus venosus, the atrium, the ventricle, and the bulbus arteriosus. The heart keeps the blood flowing and pumping through the fish keeping the blood circulating in a single loop. Fish are constantly moving or swimming to maintain blood pressure. There are only one ventricle and atrium in the Yellow Perch, creating two chambers. There are many arteries with in the Perch, these include: efferent branchial arteries, afferent branchial arteries, the ventral aorta, intestinal artery, gonadal artery, pneumatic artery, dorsal aorta, and the celiac artery. Blood enters the gills of the fish from the afferent branches of the ventral aorta. The aorta (ventral and dorsal) are the largest arteries in the fish, and distribute oxygenated blood. The veins inside the Yellow Perch consist of: the hepatic portal vein, intestinal vein, left posterior cardinal vein, and right posterior cardinal vein. Veins deliver deoxygenated blood to the heart. There are very many different nutrient rich capillaires branching off of the arteries and veins in the Yellow Perch. Capillaries are in charge of distributing oxygenated blood from arteries to the tissues of the body and to send deoxygenated blood from these tissues back into the veins. They are the smallest of these three types of blood vessels (arteries, veins, capillaries). The gills of the fish are extremely important to its circulation because this is where the blood becomes oxygenated.
Human Impact/Influences
Perch are sought-after by fishermen both for sport and for food.
Perch also help people by controlling populations of other fish and aquatic animals.
Cladogram
Cool facts!
- The natural habitat of this fish ranges from Thailand, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam, Southern China, Taiwan, Philippines and Cambodia. It is also found in Europe, Nigeria, Mississippi, South Carolina, Hudson Bay, Chesapeake Bay, Nova Scotia, and Atlantic coast.
- Their lifestyle is known as semi-anadromous. They can be seen migrating to tidal water and brackish water
- The female is of larger size while the male is distinguished as darker in color with edgy anal fin. They spawn in shallow water.
- They often swim in schools.
They come into shallow water to feed at dawn and dusk.