BATH and O'CONNOR: BIOLOGY OF WHITE PERCH IN HUDSON RIVER ESTUARY 



estimated the fecundity of white perch from 

 Sebasticock Lake, Maine, at 164,000 eggs/ female. 

 Taub (1969), studying white perch from Quabbin 

 Reservoir, Mass., gave a mean fecundity value of 

 271,000 eggs/ female for age groups 3 and 4 

 (range 190,000-321,000). These fecundities, 

 which are at least double that found in riverine 

 populations, may be related to environmental 

 factors such as food supply, sample size, time of 

 capture, or technique used (Taub 1969). Growth 

 data for these populations show that the in- 

 creased fecundity is primarily related to an in- 

 creased growth rate for white perch in lacustrine 

 systems, and attainment of a greater size for 

 mature females (Thoits 1958; Taub 1969). 



The white perch does not contribute substan- 

 tially to the commercial fishery of the Hudson 

 River and has declined sharply from the 590 1 (1.3 

 million lb) observed for the New York Bight re- 

 gion in the 1901 statistics (McHugh and Ginter 

 1978). Sheppard 9 reported that for the Hudson 

 River the average catch between 1913 and 1964 

 was -19,073 lb, ranging from 2,249 to 60,522 lb. 

 The average commercial catch during 1965-74 

 was 1,600 lb. 



However, the species has ecological impor- 

 tance in cycling nutrients within estuarine food 

 webs and thus contributes to populations of com- 

 mercially important marine and anadromous 

 fisheries. The juvenile white perch in the Hudson 

 River are prey for yearling and older striped 

 bass, Morone saxatilis; adult white perch; and 

 presumably other species such as the bluefish, 

 Pomatomus saltatrix (Bigelow and Schroeder 

 1953; Texas Instruments Inc. footnote 7, 1976 10 ). 



The adaptability of the species to waters of dif- 

 ferent quality and chemical characteristics, and 

 the high plasticity of fecundity and growth rate 

 under various conditions (e.g., brackish waters 

 vs. freshwater impoundments) suggest potential 

 importance of white perch as highly suited to 

 temperate zone aquaculture. 



ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 



Robert Koski kindly provided white perch for 

 analysis. Scale analyses were verified by Dale 

 Wallace, and Lois Peters assisted with statistical 



9 Sheppard, D. J. 1976. Valuation of the Hudson River 

 fishery resources: past, present and future. Bur. Fish., N.Y. 

 Dep. Environ. Conserv., Albany, 50 p. 



10 Texas Instruments Inc. 1976. Predation by bluefish in 

 the Lower Hudson River. Consolidated Edison Co. of N.Y., 

 Inc., 32 p. 



analyses. The assistance of Alfred Perlmutter 

 was invaluable throughout the project in provid- 

 ing specimens and many helpful comments on the 

 manuscript. We thank Gordon Cook for graphics, 

 and Eleanor Clemm and Toni Moore for typing 

 of the manuscript. The research was supported 

 in part by the Consolidated Edison Co. of New 

 York, Inc., and in part by the National Institute 

 of Environmental Health Sciences, Grant 

 ES00260 to the New York University Medical 

 Center, Department of Environmental Medicine, 

 Laboratory for Environmental Studies. 



LITERATURE CITED 



Abood, K. A. 



1974. Circulation in the Hudson estuary. Ann. N.Y. 

 Acad. Sci. 250:39-111. 



Au Clair, R. P. 



1956. The white perch, Morone americana (Gmelin), in 

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 Bath, D. W., J. A.Hernandez, T. Rippolon, andG. McCarkv. 

 1979. Technique for simultaneous sampling of plankton- 

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 41:158-160. 

 Bigelow, H. B., and W. C. Schroeder. 



1953. Fishes of the Gulf of Maine. U.S. Fish Wildl. 

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CONOVER, N. 



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Larsen, A. 



1954. First record of the white perch (Morone americana) 

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Lauer, G. J., W. T. Waller, D. W. Bath, W. Meeks. R. 

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 LE Cren, E. D. 



1951. The length-weight relationship and seasonal cycle 

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