Fish are friends not food
Perch Dissection Lab
Objectives
This lab gives the opprotunity to
- students to learn the placement of the perch's organs
- and their relationship to one another.
Background Information
The perch or better known as the perca, are classified as bony fish. This means that they have an exoskelaton and scales covering their entire body. Their body is around 7-10 inches long. They weigh around 8 ounces to around 1 pound. The perca lives around South Carolina and all the way up to New Jersey. These fish inhabit Lake Erie and Lake Ontariowhich contains cool fresh water. The perch lives around 15-25 years, and their sexual maturity reaches the fullest after 2 years. Perches reproduce once a year around the spring season. The perch's predators include bird eating fish, while adults are eaten by larger fish such as the bluegill and even other perches.
Predators
The predators of the perchs include the bluegill shown in the picture and other perches.
Habitiat
The perch lives in almost any fresh water habitats. Some examples of their habitat would be the Great Lakes such as Lake Ontario and Lake Eerie. They have many close relatives but there are only a few species named Perca.
Prey
The perch preys/eats aquatic insects, minoes, young mussels, and algae
The Circulatory System
The circulatory system of the perch is actually quite basic, it is actually one huge loop. The circulatory system consists of one heart, one ventricle, an aorta, and small blood vessels. In the perca or perch the blood goes in a single loop. The ventricle pumps out blood which then travels through a very long aorta and then through the capillaries that run throughout the body. The capillaries distribute blood to the organs or the perch, such as the dorsal fins and liver. The deoxygenated blood returns to the heart, through the veins and reenters the atrium, which is sent through the loop again.
Evolution
Classification
Domain: Eukarya
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Ostechthyes
Order: Perciformes
Family: Percidae
Genus: Perca
Species: Flavescens
Perch Cladogram
Human Impact
Perchs have been fished for because of it's numbers have been fished for as a sport and have been used as a food resource. Pollution has been affecting the perch population, since the perch cannot live in sea water and human boating and fishing has caused problems.
Interesting Facts
- Their habitats range form South Carolina all the way up to Nova Scotia.
- The fish is found in the Chesapeake area and lives in almost 13,000 acres of fresh water.
- Have 6,000 species and 150 families.
- Good to eat and they are also used as bait.