Silver perch 



Bairdiella chrysoura 

 Adult 



5 cm 



(from Goode 1884) 



Common Name: silver perch 



Scientific Name: Bairdiella chrysoura 



Other Common Names: butterfish (Springer and 



Woodburn 1960); yellowtail (Gunter 1945); silver 



croaker, mamselle blanche (French), and corvineta 



blanca (Spanish) (Fischer 1978). 



Classification (Robins et al. 1991) 



Phylum: Chordata 



Class: Osteichthyes 



Order: Perciformes 



Family: Sciaenidae 



Value 



Commercial : Catches of silver perch are mostly inci- 

 dental in fisheries for more important commercial spe- 

 cies. The principal gear used is pound nets, seines, 

 and bottom trawls. Separate statistics are not reported 

 for this species. Occasionally, large individuals are 

 marketed fresh for human consumption (Fischer 1 978, 

 Manooch 1984). 



Recreational : Silver perch are caught on hook and line 

 by anglers, but are not specifically sought. Catches are 

 usually incidental, and often discarded due to small 

 size (Fischer 1978, Manooch 1984, Shipp 1986). Sil- 

 ver perch are sometimes used as bait by recreational 

 fishermen (Fischer 1978, Manooch 1984). Its silvery 

 color makes it an attractive bait, but it is uncommon in 

 large numbers for capture. An estimated 305,000 

 silver perch were caught in Gulf of Mexico waters 

 (excluding Texas) during 1991 by recreational fisher- 

 men (Van Voorhees et al. 1992). 



Indicator of Environmental Stress : Hansen and Wilson 

 (1970) recorded concentrations of DDT and its me- 

 tabolites from 0.02 to 1 .26 in 0-class fish from Florida's 



Pensacola estuary. 



Ecological : The silver perch is primarily a benthic 

 carnivore that consumes a diet consisting mostly of 

 crustaceans (Killametal. 1992). It can be an abundant 

 species in estuaries (Sheridan et al. 1 984), and there- 

 fore play a key role in the ecology of a system. Because 

 of its abundance, it is likely to be the prey of numerous 

 piscivorous fish species (Killam et al. 1992). 



Range 



Overall : The silver perch occurs in coastal waters of the 

 western Atlantic from the Gulf of Maine off of Massa- 

 chusetts to southern Florida and through the northern 

 Gulf of Mexico (Lee et al. 1 980, Shipp 1 986). 



Within Study Area : In the Gulf of Mexico, the silver 

 perch ranges from south Florida into Mexico near the 

 Rio Grande River (Lee et al. 1980, Shipp 1986). It is 

 common in northern Gulf of Mexico estuaries, and less 

 so to the south (Shipp 1986) (Table 5.33). 



Life Mode 



Eggs are pelagic and buoyant, larvae are pelagic to 

 demersal, and both juveniles and adults are demersal 

 (Johnson 1978, Ditty and Shaw 1994). Spawning 

 occurs in the evening (Kuntz 1914). Activity is primarily 

 nocturnal, and is affected by tidal cycles (Sogard et al. 

 1989). 



Habitat 



Type : Silver perch are estuarine-dependent, and the 

 majority of spawning occurs in estuaries (Ditty pers. 

 comm.). Eggs may be estuarine to marine depending 

 on where spawning occurs (Johnson 1 978), and larvae 

 are pelagic (Ditty and Shaw 1 994). Juveniles are found 



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