''Coreoperca kawamebari'', commonly known as the Japanese perch, redfin perch, Japanese river perch, Eye-spot perch or in Anglophone parts of Japan, simply the perch, is a predatory species of the freshwater perch native to Japan and southern Korea. They are sometimes kept as

pets A pet, or companion animal, is an animal kept primarily for a person's company or entertainment rather than as a working animal, livestock, or a laboratory animal. Popular pets are often considered to have attractive appearances, intelligence ...

. The Japanese perch (Coreoperca kawamebari) are a member of the perch family but with the predatory feeding behaviour of the black bass (

Micropterus ''Micropterus'' is a genus of North American freshwater fish collectively known as the black bass, belonging to the sunfish family Centrarchidae of order Perciformes. They are sometimes erroneously called "black trout", but the name trout more ...

) and bluegill (

Lepomis macrochirus The bluegill (''Lepomis macrochirus''), sometimes referred to as "bream", "brim", "sunny", or "copper nose" as is common in Texas, is a species of North American freshwater fish, native to and commonly found in streams, rivers, lakes, ponds and ...

Description

Japanese perch are greenish with red pelvic, anal and caudal fins. They have five to eight dark vertical bars on their sides. The Japanese perch can reach up to in length. They can live for up to 7 years.

Diet

The Japanese perch is a predatory species. Juveniles feed on

zooplankton Zooplankton are the animal component of the planktonic community ("zoo" comes from the Greek word for ''animal''). Plankton are aquatic organisms that are unable to swim effectively against currents, and consequently drift or are carried along by ...

, bottom invertebrate fauna, other fish fry, scuds, small shrimp and insects, while adults feed on both

invertebrates Invertebrates are a paraphyletic group of animals that neither possess nor develop a vertebral column (commonly known as a ''backbone'' or ''spine''), derived from the notochord. This is a grouping including all animals apart from the chordat ...

and smaller fish, mainly

Japanese rice fish The Japanese rice fish (''Oryzias latipes''), also known as the medaka, is a member of genus ''Oryzias'' ( ricefish), the only genus in the subfamily Oryziinae. This small (up to about ) native of East Asia is a denizen of rice paddies, marshes, ...

, Japanese minnows (

Nipponocypris temminckii ''Nipponocypris temminckii'' (common name: the Dark chub) is a species of cyprinid in the genus ''Nipponocypris''. It inhabits China, Japan and Korea Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has be ...

, Rhynchocypris,

Gnathopogon elongatus ''Gnathopogon elongatus'' is a species of ray-finned fish in the genus ''Gnathopogon ''Gnathopogon'' is a genus of cyprinid fish found in eastern Asia. There are currently nine species in this genus. Species ''Gnathopogon'' has the following ...

), Japanese smelt ( Hypomesus nipponensis) fry, small crayfish and

tadpole A tadpole is the larval stage in the biological life cycle of an amphibian. Most tadpoles are fully aquatic, though some species of amphibians have tadpoles that are terrestrial. Tadpoles have some fish-like features that may not be found ...

. Japanese perch start eating other fish when they reach a size of around .

Reproduction

A Japanese perch usually matures in two to three years, but a Japanese perch that lives in warmer waters has the ability to reproduce in the first year of life. A single female has the potential to lay from 250 to 1,000 eggs annually. Japanese perch will journey to warmer shallow water for spawning. The primary

spawning Spawn is the eggs and sperm released or deposited into water by aquatic animals. As a verb, ''to spawn'' refers to the process of releasing the eggs and sperm, and the act of both sexes is called spawning. Most aquatic animals, except for aquat ...

season for the Japanese perch occurs from the middle of April through approximately June, depositing their eggs on water plants or the branches of trees or shrubs immersed in the water.

Predators

The Japanese perch is a frequent prey of many fish-eating predators, such as the

great cormorant The great cormorant (''Phalacrocorax carbo''), known as the black shag in New Zealand and formerly also known as the great black cormorant across the Northern Hemisphere, the black cormorant in Australia, and the large cormorant in India, is a w ...

and

common kingfisher The common kingfisher (''Alcedo atthis''), also known as the Eurasian kingfisher and river kingfisher, is a small kingfisher with seven subspecies recognized within its wide distribution across Eurasia and North Africa. It is resident in much of ...

References

External links