THE PERCH. 139 



CHAPTER VIII. 



THE PERCH. 



THE perch is a member of the Percidae family, and is a true 

 representative of the " spinous finned " fish (of which there 

 are very few different sorts found in the waters of Great 

 Britain), and his scientific name is Perca Fluviatilis. When 

 he is in good condition, he is a handsome fish ; the body is 

 oblong, and is covered with small, hard and rough scales. 

 He has a large mouth, and the gill covers are spinous or 

 prickly. His jaws and palate are well furnished with teeth ; 

 in colour he is a sort of a pale green, with a white belly, and 

 there are some dark transverse bars striping his sides ; his anal 

 and tail, or caudal, fins are of a bright red, and the golden 

 irides of his eyes are very beautiful. The back is very 

 humped, the dorsal or back fin is surmounted by sharp spines 

 or prickles ; there is one very great characteristic, and that is, 

 he has two dorsal fins. Taking the perch altogether, he is a 

 very handsome fish. One drawback he has, and that is, he 

 is not a very comfortable fish to handle. You hook one, and 

 swing him into your hand, like a roach or dace, and he will 

 elevate the spines on his back, or you may perhaps catch 

 your hand against the edge of his gill covers, and a very sharp 

 stab will be the result. He might very well be called the 

 water hedgehog, in that respect. The baits for perch fishing 

 are worms (a well-scoured tail end of lob- worm is, perhaps, 

 as good as any, though he likes a bunch of small red worms, 

 or a brandling) ; minnows are an excellent bait for him, or a 

 very small gudgeon, or dace (all fry, in fact, not above two 

 inches long) ; minnows, however, if you can get them, are the 

 best. He will sometimes take a lump of paste, or a bunch of 

 gentles, when one is roach fishing, or a cad bait when fishing 



