428 Roosevelt Wild Life .liiiials 



both indicate that Perch leniain on or near the bottom in as deep water as they can 

 find during most of the year. The migrations into shallow water are for spawning 

 purposes and to escape stagnant conditions during summer (I.e., p. 329). 



All observations signify that Perch swim in schools throughout life (I.e., 

 P- 332). 



Perch do not change rapidly from one stratum of water to another (p. 316) 

 for gill nets set at different depths brought up Perch as a rule that had been 

 feeding at the particular levels where they were caught. 



Perch come to the surface at night and early in the morning (p. 332). 



The statements made by Pearse and Achtenberg apply particularly to the 

 adult fish. It is well known, as before noted, that small Perch dwell in shallow 

 water. Reighard ('15, p. 238) states that they go to deep water in Douglas Lake 

 when about six inches long, and that small Perch less than 2% inches were common 

 on shoals (p. 237). He sees (p. 241) an advantage in this schooling in that 

 "There are more eyes on the watch for enemies" and "more chance that any 

 individual will be warned liy the flight movements of comrades, and thus be 

 enabled to escape." There are two influences that keep the young fish on sand 

 shoals, where they are commonly found : these are the abundance of plankton 

 Crustacea for food, and the relative freedom from attacks of enemies. Turner 

 ('20, p. 151) notes that young Perch, 1-2 inches long, dwell in two to five feet of 

 water in Lake Erie. Hankinson ('08, p. 215) found schools of very young Perch 

 in the shallows at Walnut Lake, and in many other inland lakes of Michigan. In 

 Oneida Lake little Perch were extremely abundant in the shallows in the summer, 

 and these were usually from about ijX to 3 inches. Our collection data make it 

 appear that these young prefer shallows with patches of aquatic vegetation, or 

 margins with partly submerged sedges, rushes and other shore plants. They like 

 the vicinity of these plant growths but do not seem to enter them as do Mud 

 Minnows, bullheads, pickerel, and sunfishes. 



Perch are principally lake fish, but they also frequent many large streams, 

 so are to quite an extent a river fish. Greeley ('2j, p. 64), in his studies of the 

 Genesee System in New York State, found Perch in lakes and ih many ponds, but 

 absent in most streams, except the largest. The species seems to prefer warm 

 waters. Hankinson ('24) found no Perch in any of the collections made in the 

 many small streams in western New York. No large streams were extensively 

 examined, so the findings were similar to those of Greeley. Shelford ('13, p. 119) 

 found Perch only in the larger lower courses of the streams near Chicago. Forbes 

 and Richardson ('09, p. 277) report that 83 collections made by them in Illinois 

 showed Perch to be found with about equal frequency in each of the three habitats : 

 glacial lakes, bottom-land lakes and large rivers. At Oneida Lake, Perch were 

 frequently found near the mouths of streams ; and in one. Scriba Oeek, small 

 Perch are known to be very abundant at certain times, as in spring when the I 'ike 

 Perch are spawning, and in the fall (Bean, '09, p. 213). 



In the Great Lakes, Perch do not frequent the deepest water and are not taken 

 in nets set in the deepest waters for ci.scoes, lake chubs and Lake Trout. Milner 

 ('74, p. 36) in his habitat classification includes the Perch among fislies which 

 dwell in water twenty fathoms dee]) and shallciwcv. and ndt with those most 

 abundant in water of seventy fathoms and dcejicr. 



