Identification: White Perch are a small silvery, greenish-gray fish with a dark, highly domed back. The belley is whitish, and the lower jaw projects slightly. It has three spines in its anal fin and a deep notch in the dorsal fin. The tail is also mildly forked. Woolcott (1962); Mansueti (1964); Smith (1985); Page and Burr (1991); Jenkins and Burkhead (1994). White Perch are visually quite similar to White Bass (Morone chrysops). The following distinguishing features can be used to identify White Perch from White Bass. White Perch: anal ray count of 9–10, body depth is greatest before the spinous dorsal fin, and the side of the body lacks distinct longitudinal lines. White Bass: anal ray count is >10, body depth is greatest under the spinous dorsal fin, and the side of body has distinct longitunal lines.
Native Range: Atlantic Slope drainages from St. Lawrence-Lake Ontario drainage, Quebec, south to Pee Dee River, South Carolina (Page and Burr 1991). Populations in the Lake Ontario drainage probably became established following construction of the Erie Canal.
Ecology: White Perch is a euryhaline species, inhabiting fresh, brackish and coastal waters. It is commonly found in estuaries, rivers, and inland lakes. Adults prefer habitats with little cover and muddy/silty/sandy substrate. White Perch in estuaries are semi-anadromous, migrating from saltier bays and coastal areas into the fresher areas of streams and rivers to spawn in spring. Landlocked populations can spawn in freshwater rivers and lakes and typically migrate from deep to shallow waters to spawn. Males and females mature after 1–4 years (Bur 1986). Females are oviparous and broadcast adhesive eggs onto sandy substrate to eventually be fertilized externally by the males. Fecundity ranges from 20,000–457,000 eggs per female (Bur 1986; Jenkins and Burkhead 1994; Okoye et al. 2008). White Perch is a highly opportunistic forager with a generalist diet, including macroinvertebrates, crustaceans and fish (Couture and Watzin 2008; Jones et al. 2015). Fish eggs (including its own) are also an important part of its diet particularly in the spring (Schaeffer and Margraf 1987). This species is consumed by piscivores including Walleye (Sander vitreus), Striped Bass (M. saxatilis), Muskellunge (Esox masquinongy), and Catfish (Icturlidae) (Hoyle et al. 2017; Andrews et al. 2018; Schmitt et al. 2019).
Means of Introduction: The first report of White Perch in the Great Lakes drainage was from Cross Lake, central New York, in 1950 (Dence 1952). The species apparently gained access to the lake via movement through the Erie Barge Canal in the 1930s and 1950s (Lee et al. 1980 et seq.; Johnson and Evans 1990; Mills et al. 1993). Scott and Christie (1963) stated that the White Perch most likely gained access to Lake Ontario via the Oswego River, as a result of the spread of Hudson River populations northward and westward through the Mohawk River Valley and Erie Barge Canal. Once in Lake Ontario, it gained access to Lake Erie through the Welland Canal in 1953 and continued to spread to the upper Great Lakes (Johnson and Evans 1990; Mills et al. 1993). The first reports of westward movement through the Great Lakes are as follows: Lake Erie in 1953 (Larsen 1954), Lake St. Clair in 1977, Lake Huron in 1987 (Johnson and Evans 1990), Lake Michigan at Green Bay-Fox River, Wisconsin in May 1988 (Cochran and Hesse 1994), and Illinois waters of Lake Michigan off Chicago in September 1988 (Savitz et al. 1989). One oddity is that the first record from Lake Superior was in 1986 from Duluth Harbor-one year before the fish was found in Lake Huron, and two years before it was seen in Lake Michigan. The Duluth Harbor population may be restricted to that location because it is the warmest part of the lake. This population likely represents a separate introduction because it does not fit the pattern of western dispersal (Johnson and Evans 1990). In this case it is possible that the introduction occurred via ships' ballast water. White Perch was brought from New Jersey to Nebraska in 1964, and fry produced that year in a hatchery were accidentally introduced into a reservoir that provided access to the Missouri River (Hergenrader and Bliss 1971). White Perch has been stocked intentionally in other areas for sportfishing. In Kansas, fish found at Browning Oxbow on the Missouri River are believed to have come from Nebraska. The species was not recorded from the Missouri River in Missouri until the 1990s (Pflieger 1997). The source of the fish in the two Kansas reservoirs is a result of stock contamination from a Striped Bass stocking (Mosher, personal communication). White Perch were stocked in West Virginia in the early 1900s (Cincotta, personal communication) and are being illegally stocked by individuals in inland lakes in Indiana (R. Robertson and D. Keller, personal communication).
Status: Established in Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Vermont, and Wisconsin. Current status in Colorado and Kansas is unknown.
Impact of Introduction: Fish eggs are an important component of the diet of White Perch especially in the spring months. White Perch generally preys on eggs of Walleye (Sander vitreum), White Bass, and can cannibalize its own eggs (Schaeffer and Margraf 1987). Walleye or White Bass eggs can make up 100% of White Perch diet depending on which fish is spawning. During a three-year study, this diet was found to be unique in that: 1) eggs were eaten for a comparatively long time, 2) they were the only significant food item eaten by adults during two of the three years, 3) large volumes were eaten per individual, and 4) most fish were feeding. White Perch also feeds heavily on minnows Notropis spp. (Schaeffer and Margraf 1987). The collapse of the Walleye fishery in the Bay of Quinte (on the north shore of Lake Ontario) coincided with the increase in the White Perch population and may have been a result of egg predation and lack of recruitment (Schaeffer and Margraf 1987). Bur and Klarer (1991) found that Morone americana has a large portion of its diet consisting of zooplankton in the central basin of Lake Erie. In comparison to available zooplankton, a disproportionately large amount was the invasive Bythotrephes cederstroemi (Bur and Klarer 1991). Parrish and Margraf (1990) hypothesized that White Perch compete with native Yellow Perch (Perca flavescens) for zooplankton. They determined that growth rates of Yellow Perch had declined since the invasion of White Perch in Lake Erie, especially in the western basin. They also determined that the two species had considerable diet overlap and found one sample in which White Perch consumed 27 percent more food than Yellow Perch. Parrish and Margraf (1994) speculated that competition between White Perch and forage fishes, such as Emerald Shiner (Notropis atherinoides) and Spottail Shiner (N. hudsonius), may actually be more complex and may be responsible for the declines of the latter species. Decline of these species could also affect Walleye, the top predator in Lake Erie (Parrish and Margraf 1994). Within three years after being introduced into a Nebraska reservoir, White Perch had completely replaced the previously dominant Black Bullhead (Ameiurus melas). Species composition changed from 74 percent Black Bullhead to 70 percent White Perch in that timeframe (Hergenrader and Bliss 1971). Feiner et al. (2013a, b) found significant overlap in trophic niche and resource use between White Perch and Walleye, Largemouth Bass (Micropterus salmoides), Bluegill (Lepomis macrochirus), Striped Bass (M. saxatilis), and White Bass in three lakes in North Carolina, suggesting the potential for resource competition. Hybridization: Invasion of the Great Lakes brought White Perch into sympatric distribution with White Bass, a closely related but previously allopatric species, allowing hybridization to occur. White Perch x White Bass hybrids have been reported in western Lake Erie, in Ohio and Michigan, and from the Detroit and St. Clair Rivers in Michigan (Todd 1986). Hybrids were first noted in western Lake Erie in the early 1980s, as White Perch were increasing in this region (Todd 1986). These hybrids probably occur in other Great Lakes because the two species are sympatric throughout the chain of lakes. However, Todd was not aware of any other locations with these hybrids, and his extensive surveys around Saginaw Bay, Lake Huron, and Lake Ontario in the mid-1980s failed to find any (Todd, personal communication). Todd (1986) provided photographs of both parent species and the hybrid and gave characteristics of each. Because these hybrids are capable of backcrossing with the parental species, and possibly producing F2 hybrids by crossing amongst themselves (Todd 1986), they dilute the gene pool of each parent species. The White Perch x White Bass hybrid is the first naturally occurring Morone hybrid known (Todd 1986). Hybrids of M. americana and M. mississippiensis were first found in 2000 in the middle Illinois River (Irons et al. 2002). Hybridization and competition may represent another threat to the already dwindling Yellow Bass of that region.
Remarks: Although the White Perch was found in the Missouri River in Missouri almost to the Missouri/Iowa state border (Pflieger 1997), as of March 1998, there are no known collections in the state of Iowa (M. Konrad, personal communication). Feiner et al. (2012) found life history differences (e.g., growth rate, reproductive investment) across introduced populations within three large reservoirs in North Carolina representing different stages of invasion, and suggest that this plasticity allows for increased success during establishment. Feiner et al. (2013a) found that populations in the North Carolina reservoirs occupied a wide trophic niche, and suggested that niche breadth likely also aided establishment success. Pothoven and Höök (2015) found overlap in standard diet assemblages of age-0 White Perch and White Bass in Saginaw Bay, Lake Huron, indicating that complete trophic separation was not a requirement for long-term stable coexistence.
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Author: Fuller, P., E. Maynard, D. Raikow, J. Larson, A. Fusaro, M. Neilson, and A. Bartos
Citation Information:
Fuller, P., E. Maynard, D. Raikow, J. Larson, A. Fusaro, M. Neilson, and A. Bartos, 2024, Morone americana (Gmelin, 1789): U.S. Geological Survey, Nonindigenous Aquatic Species Database, Gainesville, FL, https://nas.er.usgs.gov/queries/factsheet.aspx?SpeciesID=777, Revision Date: 9/18/2023, Peer Review Date: 3/24/2022, Access Date: 6/4/2024
This information is preliminary or provisional and is subject to revision. It is being provided to meet the need for timely best science. The information has not received final approval by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and is provided on the condition that neither the USGS nor the U.S. Government shall be held liable for any damages resulting from the authorized or unauthorized use of the information.
