White perch (Morone americana) is a saltwater, freshwater, brackish species recorded in the United States. It is found at depths of 0–10 m.
Scientific name: Morone americana · Water: Saltwater, Freshwater, Brackish
Size: up to 58 cm
The white perch is a benthopelagic moronid that occurs in fresh, brackish and coastal waters, inhabiting pools and other quiet-water areas of medium to large rivers, usually over mud. It is recorded from the surface down to 10 m. Maximum length is about 58 cm total length, commonly about 14 cm, and it can live 16 years. It is a minor commercial species, a gamefish and is kept in public aquariums, with a low price category. Fishing vulnerability is high to very high at 69 of 100 and resilience low, and climate vulnerability is moderate to high at 52 of 100. IUCN lists it as least concern.
It is generally silvery-white, which is where the name comes from, but depending on habitat and size fish may develop a darker shade near the dorsal fin and along the top of the back, which earns them the nickname "black-back". The maximum published weight is 2.2 kg. It is known to eat the eggs of species native to the Great Lakes, walleye and other true perches among them, and at times fish eggs make up 100% of its diet; it also prefers small minnows such as mudminnows and fathead minnows, and in Chesapeake Bay it commonly preys on grass shrimp, razor clams and bloodworms. It is a prolific spawner: a female can deposit over 150,000 eggs in a single spawning session lasting just over a week, several males will often attend one female and each may fertilise a portion of her eggs, and the young hatch within one to six days of fertilisation. The parasite Lironeca ovalis is at times found in the gills and its presence is believed to reduce the fish's growth rate. Its range runs from the St. Lawrence River and Lake Ontario south to the Pee Dee River in South Carolina and east to Nova Scotia, taking in the lower Great Lakes, the Finger Lakes, Long Island Sound and the nearby coast, the Hudson and Mohawk river system, and Delaware and Chesapeake bays, and it turns up occasionally in small landlocked lakes and ponds. It is currently recovering from a population loss in the Hudson River.
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