O-Fish-ial Fun Fact Thursday — 24 May 2018

Hello, and welcome to O-Fish-ial Fun Fact Thursday. This month is national fish month!!

Today we’ll be looking at the European perch, or for fancy people, Perca fluviatilis.

It’s not ugly

How big does it get?

The European perch gets to about 60cm long and 4.8kg in weight. They can get to about 22 years of age.

Where can I find it?

Naturally, freshwater bodies throughout Eurasia. You can probably find them in most countries around the world though, due to human transference.

What does it eat?

When young, they eat zooplankton, but from around 12cm, they start eating fish predominantly.

What makes it interesting?

• It’s the national fish of Finland.
• They have been widely introduced throughout the world, usually to bolster the local angling scene.
• They are ambush predators, which means they are capable of impressive acceleration, but they can’t maintain their top speed for long periods.
• There is anecdotal evidence that their eggs stick to the legs of wading birds, which helps the species move from one water body to the next. There is, however, no scientific evidence that this actually happens.
• It is an important commercial fishing species. In 2013, 28, 920 tonnes were commercially fished, primarily across northern Europe.
• Weirdly, when spawning occurs, males form orderly lines of up to 25 individuals behind the females, to await their chance to fertilize the females’ eggs.