CHAPTER II 



THE PERCH FAMILY 



BY JOHN BICKKROYKE, M.A. 



LARGE-MOUTHED BLACK BASS 



An txiccdin^ly gamy fghur 



THE thick-set, goldeii-bmnze, 

 dark-barred, hog-backed 

 fish known as tin- I'rui H 

 has many striking characteristics, and 

 is remarkable, among other things, for 

 the vast number of its relations scat- 

 tered all over the world. So numen ms, 

 indeed, are its cousins that ichthy- 

 ologists have had to divide the 1'erch 

 Family into a large number of groups. 

 There are various species of perch 

 found, as a matter of fact, in the fresh- 

 waters and on all the coasts of the 

 temperate and tropical regions. 



The COMMON ri-:ucn, which is 

 widely distributed over Europe, 

 Northern Asia, and North Amen. .1, 

 is properly an inhabitant of rivers, 



lakes and ponds, but sometimes descends to brackish water. It runs up to about 5 Ibs. in 

 weight, and is carnivorous, eating most kinds of fish small enough for its swallow, including 

 the fry of its own species, which are, in some waters, an excellent bait. 



In England perch spawn in the spring, the eggs being held in a band-like mass of 

 gelatinous matter deposited on weeds or the roots of trees not far below the surface of the 

 water. The spawn, as a matter of fact, is often collected by fish-culturists and hatched <>nt. 

 Swans and water-fowl gener- 

 allyeat the eggs by themillion, 

 and wherever perch are pre- 

 served these birds should, so 

 far as possible, be kept from 

 the water during the spawn- 

 ing-season. At Henley and 

 other places on the Thames 

 those interested in fishery 

 preservation place xvirc netting 

 round the boughs and weeds 

 where perch have spawned, 

 to present the eggs being 

 eaten by swans and ducks. 

 Perch are usually termed 



HUH A. 1C. SivtlU.Km, F.7..S.} 



voracious fish, but when large BUTTKR-FISH 



are extremely shy and difficult A Mln ., ./,, , r , f i fa i fatll /,*, h&,.p ac ifo 



-z'4 





