| is it
a white bass or a white perch?
WHITE BASS (Morone chrysops)
- The body is deepest below the dorsal fin and the depth remains
fairly uniform below the entire spin dorsal fin.
- From 6 to 10 dark lines run horizontally down the back and sides.
- When the spiny dorsal fin is pulled erect, the soft dorsal fin
remains relaxed.
- Each of 3 bony anal fin spines are of different lengths and
are arranged in ascending order.
- The anal fin usually has I I or 12 soft rays behind the 3 bony
spines.
WHITE PERCH (Morone americana)
- The body is deepest just ahead of, or at the beginning of, the
dorsal fin.
- There are no lines or stripes on the back or sides.
- When the spiny dorsal fin is pulled erect, the soft dorsal fin
also becomes erect.
- The second and third bony anal spines are almost exactly the
same length.
- The anal fin usually has 8 or 9 soft rays behind the 3 bony
spines.
The white bass and the white perch are members of a family
known as the temperate basses, Percichthyidae, and are closely related
to a very popular saltwater game fish, the striped bass (Morone
saxatilis). Many anglers wrongly assume that the white perch is
related to the yellow perch (Percaflavascens) but each are members
of distinctly different families.
The white bass is a native species of Lake Erie and has been a
popular sport and commercial fish since Ohio's early days. The white
perch, on the other hand, is an invading species that has only recently
appeared to be permanently establishing itself in Lake Erie. Originally
a native of salt, brackish and fresh waters along the Atlantic coastal
plain, the white perch apparently entered Lake Ontario in the 1940s
via the Mohawk River, which connects the Hudson River with Lake
Ontario's drainage basin. The first reports of white perch in Lake
Erie occurred in 1953, after the fish apparently entered the lake
via either the Erie Barge Canal or the Welland Canal. Several white
perch were collected in Lake Erie by commercial fishermen and government
agencies between 1973 and 1975 and today they are the second most
abundant species in the Western Basin, according to the Ohio Division
of Wildlife.
Both the white bass and the white perch are well suited to the
types of habitats found in Lake Erie. The white bass is intensively
sought by sportsmen during spring spawning runs in the Maumee, Sandusky,
and Portage Rivers, and around the reefs and islands of western
Lake Erie during the summer. Thermal discharges from electric plants
attract large numbers of white bass year round, and consequently,
large numbers of anglers. White perch are now very common in shallow
portions of the lake-including river mouths, bays, reefs, and near
shore areas. Yellow perch anglers sometimes find white perch to
comprise up to half of their daily bag.
While white bass are abundant and widespread in many lakes, reservoirs,
and large deep rivers throughout the state, white perch have not
been reported outside Lake Erie. However, in the Ohio River and
its tributaries in southeastern Ohio, the freshwater drum is commonly,
but incorrectly, called white perch.
Although Ohio's state record white bass weighed 4 pounds and measured
21 inches, the usual size seen in the Lake Erie sport catch range
from 9 to 15 inches. White perch are smaller than white bass when
fish of the same age are compared, and throughout most of their
range seldom exceed 10 inches. Ile current Ohio state record white
perch weighed 1.42 pounds and measured 14 1/16 inches.
OHSU-FS-005 by Fred L. Snyder, Ohio Sea Grant Extension District
Specialist. 1979. Revised 1989. Reprinted 1991.
The original publication was produced by the Ohio Sea Grant college
Program (projects ml P-2 and A/EP-1 under grant NA90AA-D-SG496).
Ohio Sea Grant College Program
The Ohio State University
1314 Kinnear Road
Columbus, OH 43212-1194
Tel. 6141292-8949
Fax 6141292-4364
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