White perch Morone americana are native to the estuaries and freshwater systems of the Atlantic coast from Nova Scotia to South Carolina. White perch provide an important recreational and commercial fishery in the Chesapeake Bay area. The fish frequent areas with level bottoms of compact silt, mud, sand or clay and show little preference for vegetation, structures or other shelter. White perch move up large rivers to spawn (much like the white bass) at water temperatures between 52B and 61B. White perch are predacious carnivores with juveniles feeding on aquatic insects, small crustaceans and small fish. White perch have been shown to prey on fish eggs of valuable sport fishes such as walleye, white bass and yellow perch when introduced outside their native range. The collapse of the walleye fishery in part of Lake Ontario has been blamed, in part, on egg predation by white perch. The Chesapeake Bay sport catch record is 2.6 pounds but white perch rarely reach 0.5 pounds in inland reservoirs. White perch have been reported to live up to 17 years.
White Perch
The distribution of white perch has expanded well beyond their native range due to both accidental introductions and intentional stockings intended to create a sport fishery. White perch invaded Lake Ontario in the 1940's and has spread throughout the Great Lakes. White perch entered the Mississippi River system through a canal connecting Lake Michigan with the Illinois River near Chicago. From there, white perch are expected to invade up and down the Mississippi River in coming years. White perch were introduced into Nebraska by Nebraska Game Fish and Parks to provide an additional sport fishery. For the most part, white perch populations in Nebraska have been slow growing, if not stunted, and have provided only a marginal fishery. In addition, walleye and white bass eggs have been reported to make up 100% of the diet of white perch during the spring spawning period. White perch were introduced into Kansas accidentally being mixed in with a stocking of striped bass that originated from Virginia. These fish were stocked into Cheney and Wilson reservoirs. White perch moved downstream from Cheney Reservoir, entering the Arkansas River and continued moving downstream into Kaw Reservoir. White perch were first found in Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation (ODWC) routine sampling in 2000. ODWC began a research/monitoring program in 2001 intended to follow white perch population trends and to look at competitive effects on white crappie and white bass.
To date, the population of white perch in Kaw has not overpopulated, but individuals were found in Lake Keystone fall gill-net samples in 2004. The continued potential downstream expansion into other reservoirs of the Arkansas River system remains likely. ODWC is asking anglers to destroy any white perch caught from Kaw and report any catches of white perch outside of Kaw to (405) 521-3721. We would also ask anglers to freeze any specimens for confirmation by an agency biologist. The following diagrams will help distinguish white perch from white bass.
