|
REDFIN PERCH FACTS |
Description
Predatory perch, large mouth, big eyes. Back rises steeply from head, particularly in older specimens. Two narrowly-separated long based dorsal fins, first spinous with black spot at rear, second shorter and rayed (soft). Tail moderately forked. Body greenish-grey to greenish-gold with five dark-brown to black bands on the sides. These can fade if the fish is stressed and after death. The ventral, anal and tail fins are orange to bright red.
Introduced pest species; it competes with and predates on native fishes and is a host to a viral disease known to affect native fish species. It spawns in spring, with up to several hundred thousand eggs being laid in a gelatinous ribbon amongst aquatic vegetation and other sheltered areas. The egg mass is not palatable to most other fish. Eggs hatch in one to three weeks and young Redfin form schools for some time before becoming solitary. Once a very popular angling species, and providing excellent eating, Redfin have suffered a decline since the introduction of European Carp in the 1960s. It has been suggested that this may be due to Carp interfering with the nests of redfin. In Lake Mulwala, the premier recreational Murray Cod fishery on the River Murray, Redfin numbers collapsed following the arrival of the Carp. Since this collapse, the growth rates of Murray Cod and other native species in the lake have sky-rocketed.
Author credit: Ralph Foster & Amanda Manuel / South Australian Museum
Habitat
Cool freshwater rivers, streams and lakes. Prefers still or slow-moving water with aquatic vegetation and snags.
Food
Carnivore
Range
South-eastern and South-Western Australia.
Species Description is from Museums Field Guide, Atlas of Living Australia at website at https://lists.ala.org.au Licensed under Creative Commons Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
Classification
| Class: | Actinopterygii | | Order: | Perciformes | | Family: | Percidae | | Genus: | Perca | | Species: | fluviatilis | | Common Name: | Redfin Perch |
|
|
