Male and Female Yellow Perch

[taxid]

Now that I produce my own yellow perch as a aquaculturist I thought I'd share something with some of you if you didn't know it.

How many of you know the female yellow perch grows faster and gets to a larger size than the males? In fact the males are runts in comparison to the females.

Here are a male and a female side by side I just planted into my production pond along with several others. These fish are the same age but as you can see the male is much smaller and it's not just the presence of the eggs in the female.



If you catch a fairly slender perch this time of year and want to see if it's a male squeeze gently toward the anus and you'll exude a whitish fluid, which of course, is milt (semen).

The female's eggs come out in a gelatinous strand that expands in size as it absorbs water.  After absorbing water these strands can be up to 7 feet in length in really large females.  The average amount of eggs is about 28,000 but can be up to over 200,000.

[steelie1975]

knew about the size difference and stuff but the pictures are a great reference. The egg picture is awesome thanks for sharing

[Boomer]

Just curious, about what percent of the eggs actually hatch in an aquaculture setting ( I am assuming that in a naturaly setting it will be lower).

[Raquettedacker]

Your lucky I dont live close to you, cus I would be over all the time picking your brain...  Thanks for always posting cool information...

[Rod_bender]

thanks for the info!

[slabspanker]

neat picture

[Santo180]

I notice in the picture that the yellow is not very bright.  Is it the picture or is that just the color of farm raised fish?

[taxid]

Just curious, about what percent of the eggs actually hatch in an aquaculture setting ( I am assuming that in a naturaly setting it will be lower).

If they were allowed to attach them to brush etc. in the pond, which I have done before this year, probably the same as in a wild setting. I honestly don't know what that is.  My WAG if they remain off the bottom (if they lay on the bottom they get completely or partially oxygen deficient), about 80 percent.

This year I put 6 females and 16 males in a floating cage 5 ' X 5' X 4 feet deep along with a deneedled Christmas tree weighted down in the cage with an anchor for the females to attach their eggs. I hope to get better fertilization this year vs. previous years doing that but I run the risk of having the fish damage the eggs making some of the eggs fall through the cage to the bottom.

[taxid]

Your lucky I dont live close to you, cus I would be over all the time picking your brain...  Thanks for always posting cool information...

I'd be happy to answer all your questions here.

[taxid]

I notice in the picture that the yellow is not very bright.  Is it the picture or is that just the color of farm raised fish?

Interestingly my perch are fairly light until they get to be about 13 inches. Then they really color up. Not sure why but it is probably something in the natural feed they eat along with the pellets.

[gillblues]

aussum picks ! thanks for the info.

[Zern]

Very interesting!

 Have you been able to find out what triggers the spawn? moon? sun? water temp? Seams like every body of water has it own spawn time. (march, april or may) And have they always spawned on a certin date? How does water depht play a role? That great pic you have of the spawn looks shallow but was wondering if the spawn in deeper waters too.

 Also I heard the Perch eggs are toxic to other fish. Is that true?

 Thank you very much for the info. I look forward to any other tid-bits you want to share!

 Mark

[taxid]

Very interesting!
 Have you been able to find out what triggers the spawn? moon? sun? water temp? Seams like every body of water has it own spawn time. (march, april or may) And have they always spawned on a certin date?  

It's both photoperiod (length of day) and water temperature induced.  The eggs actually start developing in early fall as the days shorten, and egg production peaks in the spring when water temps climb into the 40's and there has been enough photoperiod. Not all the fish spawn at once and it usually takes place over a 2 week period. Some drop their eggs in warmer water. With all fish the fact that not all fish spawn at once is a good thing as it protects the fish from weather conditions that would wipe out the spawn if they all spawned at once.

Of course larger bodies of water take longer to warm up, so, with those it's later than the smaller bodies of water.  There may be genetic differences related to spawning timing also, but it would play a lesser role than the above two parameters.  Interestingly yellow perch need a certain amount of days where the water is under 50 F. for their eggs to develop properly according to one study.

How does water depth play a role? That great pic you have of the spawn looks shallow but was wondering if the spawn in deeper waters too.

Typically the perch look for debris to lay their eggs on in shallow water at night on brush, weeds, etc.  although some get dropped on the bottom where they don't fair well. A small percentage of my females have trouble getting the eggs out and die.

Also I heard the Perch eggs are toxic to other fish. Is that true?

Don't know but nothing seems to bother them other than fungus.

 

Thank you very much for the info. I look forward to any other tid-bits you want to share!

 Mark

[taxid]

Here's a couple more pics showing how intense in color my fish become once they become larger. It must be pigments in the natural diet in the pond.

[monkeyman2269]

hmm whats the purpose of raising um for food or stocking and how deeps your pond ? and how big