Perch
Featured in: Year 1: Animals, including humans
Perch
Fish
A common predatory fish with a humped back, spiny dorsal fin, and distinctive vertical stripes.
How to identify:
Look for a greenish, deep-bodied fish with bold, dark vertical stripes, a spiky fin on its back, and reddish-orange pelvic and tail fins.
💡 Fun Facts
- The perch's spiny front dorsal fin is a very effective defence, making it difficult for predators like pike or herons to swallow it.
- They lay their eggs in long, white, ribbon-like strands, which they drape over underwater plants.
- Young perch hunt in shoals, but as they get older and larger, they tend to hunt alone.
Name Story
Perca fluviatilis
means “the river perch”
likely meaningThe 'river' part is settled; the idea that the old name Perca comes from a word for 'dark-spotted' is a reasonable but uncertain guess.
What does its name mean?
- Perca — perchLatin perca, from Greek perkē — the ancient name for this fish
- fluviatilis — of the riverLatin fluvius 'river'
The perch's scientific name is really just its very old name plus 'of the river': Perca is the word the Greeks and Romans used for this fish thousands of years ago, and fluviatilis means it belongs to rivers and lakes. Some scholars think that ancient name came from a word meaning 'dusky' or 'dark-spotted' — which would fit the bold dark bars down its sides — though we can't be certain.