What color is the predator?
Representatives of the perch family are distinguished by their striped color. The number of stripes varies depending on where it lives. River perch has up to 9 stripes, and in fish that live in the depths of the sea, their number is reduced.
Freshwater inhabitants are characterized by a dark green back and a yellowish belly. It should be noted that the color is lighter on the sides. The eyes of the perch are orange.
If the fish lives in open areas of natural reservoirs, its color is lighter and the stripes become less noticeable. Large fish are colored in shades of grey, green and black.Types of perches with photos
The perch family includes at least 100 species of fish, which are distributed between 9 genera. The most famous for our fishermen are 4 species:
- River perch
. It lives in almost all bodies of fresh water, which is why it is considered the most common species. - Yellow perch
is distinguished by the fact that its tail, fins and scales are colored yellow. - Balkhash perch
. It lacks a black dot on the first dorsal fin, and adults lack vertical stripes. - Sea bass
. All fins of this species of perch have poisonous glands. - Sunny perch
. The sun perch was first brought to Russia in 1965. Their homeland is North America.
Description of fins
The perch has two dorsal fins, the one closer to the head is larger in size. It is colored grey-green and has a dark spot visible on it.
The first fin consists entirely of bony processes, and the second mainly consists of soft rays. The fin near the anus and pectoral fins are brightly colored.
Description
Groupers or guasa (also called goliath grouper) belong to the perch family. It is also called rock perch because of its color and habitat. Its size can be varied: there are small individuals whose weight does not even reach a kilogram, and there are individuals whose weight exceeds a hundred kilograms and their size reaches up to three meters, but especially large individuals are found mainly in the Indian Ocean, where a warm climate prevails and there are all conditions for the development of this fish and a sufficient amount of food (a variety of fish and shellfish).
The color of the perch can also be varied. It depends on the location of its habitat, and the goliath grouper can also change its color depending on its mood and character. But, basically, it is a brown color with black inclusions in the form of dots, spots and stripes, as in the photo. Externally, this type of fish looks the same as perch, with the same fins and body shape. The shape of his body is oblong, increasing towards the head. The fish has a large jaw, almost the size of its head.
Groupers are predatory fish, as evidenced by the structure of their massive jaw. The upper jaw is larger in size than the lower jaw. Although, many people think that predators should have a larger lower jaw, like a piranha. The fact is that this species has a different manner of eating prey than the piranha. The grouper sucks in its prey with great force and swallows it. Thus, its food can be small fish and other types of aquatic inhabitants that fit in its jaws.
Regarding consumption, we can say the following: the meat of this fish is low in calories, only 118 kcal per 100 grams of the finished product, and has many useful vitamins and minerals. It is an excellent source of phosphorus, calcium, selenium and sodium. When preparing food, individuals that have not reached fifty kilograms are used. A larger individual is not used for cooking, but this does not mean that it is not caught, it is caught and whatnot, but is used only as a trophy.
Perch head
Compared to the size of the body, the head of the fish is small. The oral cavity contains rows of bristly teeth.
The gills are covered with covers that have spines that serve as good protection from other predatory fish.
Description of the perch
The fish leads a sedentary lifestyle. In summer, small and medium-sized perch gather in schools and move to shallow water. They prefer quiet places.
And in winter they descend to depths, where they can always find food for themselves. A photo of a perch clearly demonstrates the predator. You can compare marine inhabitants and their freshwater relatives.Habitat
Ordinary perches are unpretentious and can live in deep and small rivers, ponds and lakes, reservoirs and even slightly salted sea bays. For an ever-hungry predator, all that is important is a sufficient amount of food of animal origin and shelter, so the distribution of fish throughout the reservoir often occurs unevenly, with the concentration increased by 5-10 times in the zone of coastal and deep vegetation, piles of stones and snags, holes and bottom dumps, and artificial structures. Adults are not attached to small food, so they prefer deep places.
To learn more:
The royal fish of the sturgeon family - sterlet
The predator does not like strong currents and too cold water. Despite this, perch has acclimatized in the rivers and lakes of the northern part of Russia, for example, the Magadan region and Yakutia.
The optimal habitat for river perch can be considered slow sections of rivers and standing reservoirs with an abundance of vegetation and complex bottom topography.
Schools of small predators prefer overgrown shallow waters, while large ones prefer the deepest and cleanest places where they can simultaneously hunt and safely rest in shelter without the risk of being eaten by other predatory fish (pike, pike perch, catfish).
Underwater photography of perch biting
With the onset of cold weather, schools of various fry move away from the shore and hide in the depths, in benthic vegetation. At the end of autumn, perches gradually move there in order to quickly gain fat reserves for wintering. A sharp reduction in the food supply affects the habits of perch in December and throughout the winter - the predator spends little time in shelters. Numerous schools of perch set off in a continuous search for suitable food, which explains the excellent bite on various tackles when ice fishing.
Spawning of the Ural perch
Male stripers can reproduce in their second or third year of life, while females mature in their third or fourth year.
The female lays eggs among snags, stones and on the bottom of the reservoir. In appearance, the masonry resembles a tube with cells, each of which contains 2 or 3 eggs.Spawning begins when the water warms up. The optimal temperature ranges from 7 degrees to 15. This period falls at the end of April and beginning of May.
Spawning occurs annually. During this period, fish can immigrate a short distance. For example: perches swim from the right bank to the left.
The food for the fry is plankton, and as soon as they grow up, they begin to eat other invertebrate inhabitants, including small fish and even fellow fish.
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What do adult perches eat?
The main diet for the predator is fish ranging in size from 6 to 12 cm. When the snow melts, it also eats worms and algae.
With the onset of warm days, the predator begins to hunt fish, and unwary relatives often find themselves among the prey. Perch eats crustaceans and invertebrates.
Diet
It is so omnivorous and voracious that the complete answer to the question of what perch eats looks like this - everything that fits in its wide, toothy mouth. The river feasts on zooplankton, benthic organisms, small fish, eggs of other fish, crustaceans, larvae, worms, insects, etc. There are often cases when perch considers relatives, frogs and even algae as food.
The basis of the predator’s fish diet is left by representatives of the carp family (Cyprinidae):
- gudgeon, roach, crucian carp;
- minnow, bream, bleak;
- rudd, verkhovka, roach:
- Podust, Chekhon, Chebak.
In practice, the situation arises that any fish 2-12 cm long that lives next to a perch is included in its zone of hunting interests, including the closest single-family species - pike perch, ruffe, chop.
To learn more:
Podust: fish lifestyle and fishing methods
What fish habits should avid fishermen know about?
Perch fishing is very popular. Fishermen experience an unforgettable sensation when they manage to catch a large specimen.
The habits of a perch are influenced by the place where it lives. In river reservoirs, the predator has to live side by side with serious competitors: pike perch, pike and burbot. Here it dominates peaceful fish such as roach.Perch lives in pools or places where there is a reverse current. The basis of its food supply is small fish. On rivers, schools of fish do not exceed a dozen individuals, then relatives do not have to compete for food.
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Good perch is found on the river where the shadow falls. A fisherman can have an active bite both during the day and at night.
If you are interested in trophy specimens, it is better to fish at night. But during the day, large perches often behave aggressively; they chase fry into shallow water, and the chances of catching a big fish are reduced to a minimum.
Perch feels great in ponds. In such reservoirs, its peak activity occurs in the morning and can continue until lunch.
On a pond, perch constantly moves in search of food, so you cannot be sure that if yesterday you had an excellent catch in this place, today the perch will be waiting for you again.
Perch diet
Perch is such a voracious predator that it eats everything that moves, both in the water column and at the bottom of the reservoir. The most important thing is that perch can easily destroy eggs laid by other fish. When perch fry are born, they stay close to the bottom, where they feed on small living organisms. By mid-summer they move to the coastal zone, where they hunt for fry of roach and other small fish.
Perch prefers non-valuable fish species such as smelt and minnow. In second place for perch are ruffs, gobies, bleak, juvenile silver bream, as well as small pike perch and crucian carp. Often, perch hunt for mosquito larvae, crayfish and frogs. Sometimes you can find stones and algae in the stomach of this predator. Scientists believe that perch swallows them to normalize digestion processes.
With the arrival of autumn, when perch and other fish species begin to eat, perches easily eat their relatives. This fact leads to a decrease in the predator population, but at the same time, peaceful fish have a chance to survive.
