Food Of Perch Research Articles

Baikal amphipod (Gmelinoides fasciatus) and is contribution to the feeding of Ladoga Lake perch

The feeding of perch (Perca fluviatilis) from the littoral zone of Ladoga Lake was studied. Attention was focused on the colonizer species, a Baikal amphipod (Gmelinoides fasciatus), and its contribution to feeding. The invasion of Ladoga Lake by the Baikal amphipod has provided a new food item accessible to the fish. The results of the study have shown that the habitat of perch is largely the same as that of the Baikal amphipod. The food of perch was found to consist of various bottom fauna representatives. The colonizer Baikal amphipod made up over 40% of the food bolus by weight, indicating its great contribution to perch’s feeding.

Factors affecting the early life history of yellow perch,Perca flavescens

From 1979 to 1981 we followed the movement, diet, and growth of yellow perch,Perca flavescens, for their first 70 days after hatching in Lake Itasca, Minnesota. Perch spawned inshore during early spring; hatching occurred 10–20 days after spawning. Newly hatched perch were 5.6–6.2 mm total length (TL). Soon after hatching the larvae moved into the limnetic zone where they began feeding. This movement is probably a mechanism to escape intense predation in the littoral zone. Normally the first food of perch was immature copepods, but within a week they incorporated all common zooplankters into their diet. When the perch reached 25 mm TL (about day 40) they returned to the littoral zone, where they ate larger and more abundant prey than was present in the limnetic habitat. There is no correlation between growth rates and zooplankton abundances, which suggests that food quantity is not a limiting factor in the early life history of perch in Lake Itasca.

A note on the age composition, growth rate and food of perch Perca fluviatilis (L.) in four eutrophic lakes, England

The perch populations of all lakes sampled are characterised by high growth rates (l± 320–410 mm) and year‐class instability. The concurrence of four year‐classes (1970,1973,1975and 1976) in three of the lakes is good evidence for climatic control of recruitment. Poor recruitment in Rostherne Mere during 1973 is attributed to the effects of cannibalism. An increase in the growth rate of young fish (0+) in all lakes during 1975 and 1976 is noted. The relatively poor growth of perch in Rostherne Mere is a consequence of the low specific growth rate there during the first year of life. An outbreak of the ‘perch‐disease’ killed most of the adult perch present in 1975 in Rostherne Mere.

Observations on the Food of Perch (Perca fluviatilis L.) in Windermere

lower level until 1964. Le Cren (1958) describes the changes in the population density and growth of the perch during the years subsequent to this fishery. Today, in 1968, the average size of the perch is still much larger than before 1940 and the population has remained at a low level (McCormack, unpublished data). Coincident with this perch fishery there has been an intensive fishery for pike which is still in operation. The result of this has been to reduce severely the number of very large pike in the lake (Frost & Kipling 1967; Kipling & Frost 1970).The pike are not recruited to the fishery until they are about 2 kg in weight and there are large numbers of small pike in the lake. The total number of pike present remains about the same, but the emphasis has been shifted from the large, old fish to the younger age groups. When considering the food of the perch in Windermere changes due to the pike fishery cannot be ignored, and this will be examined in a later part of the paper. Windermere is the largest lake in the English Lake District. It is 16-8 km long, has a maximum width of 1 km and an average width of 874 m. It is roughly divided in half by a series of islands and shallows and for practical purposes the two basins can be regarded as two lakes. It is a mesotrophic lake (Pearsall 1949), the hypolimnion is not de-oxygenated in summer, and it is subject to increasing human influence. Apart from the perch and pike, the other species of fish inhabiting the lake are the brown trout (Salmo trutta L.), the char (Salvelinus alpinus L.), the eel (Anguilla anguilla L.), the minnow (Phoxinus phoxinus L.), the stickleback (Gasterosteous aculeatus L.), the bullhead (Cottus gobio L.) and to a lesser extent, but becoming more common, the roach (Rutilus rutilus L.) and the rudd (Scardinius erythropthalmus L.). The salmon (Salmo salar L.) migrates through the lake to spawn in the afferent becks. There are no commercial fisheries in Windermere but there are sport fisheries for trout, char, pike and