5° BRITISH FRESH-WATER FISHES 
yellowish along the base, blending into green and red towards 
the margin ; that of the pectoral fins or balancers is very 
thin, semi-transparent, and varies in hue from pale brown to 
yellowish. All the other fins—the two ventral, the anal, 
and the caudal—are of a lively vermilion, sometimes tending 
to orange, in charming contrast with the bronzy tones of the 
body and gleaming white of the belly. 
The average size of perch varies much in different waters, 
depending upon the abundance of food. The rate of growth 
is probably slow under all conditions ; Kréyer says 
that at three years old the perch measures six inches 
in length and weighs three ounces, and that in its sixth year it 
is sixteen inches long and weighs a pound anda half. This 
may be the normal rate of increase, but it is certainly liable 
to be retarded by scanty diet, if not by narrow quarters, and 
might probably be accelerated if these conditions were reversed. 
As a young fellow, I used to work much with aquaria. Among 
my favourites were a dozen or so of perch, which, when 
caught, were from an inch to an inch and a half long. Owing 
to the interruption of school-times these were not fed with the 
regularity to which they were entitled, and at the end of two 
years I could detect very little increase in their stature. No 
doubt, had they been at liberty, roaming over a water-bottom 
teeming with life, they would have fed incessantly and increased 
in due proportion. 
In waters favourable to their development, perch of from 
1 lb. to 3 lb. in weight are taken not infrequently, and the 
persevering angler is entitled to expect one occasionally of 
even greater size. Every writer who has dealt with this fish 
for the last century and a half has quoted Pennant’s report of a 
perch weighing 9 lb., said to have been taken in the Serpentine. 
Pennant was a good naturalist, no doubt; but he was even 
more renowned as a traveller, whose business it was to make 
his tales readable. He may have refrained, therefore, from 
making due allowance for that remarkable property in sporting 
Size. 
