White Perch (Morone americana)

Photo by John Lyons

Native to Atlantic coastal regions, white perch invaded the Great Lakes through the Erie and Welland canals in 1950. Prolific competitors of native fish species, white perch are believed to have the potential to cause declines of Great Lakes walleye populations.

Wisconsin DNR officials have identified white perch in Lake Superior, Green Bay, Lake Michigan and tributary streams. If you believe you have caught a white perch in these waters, do not transport it and release it into another body of water. If you believe you have caught a white perch on Wisconsin water other than Lake Superior, Green Bay, Lake Michigan or a tributary stream, please contact your local DNR fish biologist. You may not keep more than one white perch for transport to a DNR office for identification.

White perch have been found to eat the eggs of walleye (Stizostedion vitreum), white bass (Morone chrysops), other white perch and possibly other species as well. Another concern is that white perch, actually a species of the bass genus (Moronidae), have hybridized with native white bass in western Lake Erie. These hybrids were first noted in western Lake Erie in the early 1980s, the same time when white perch were increasing in abundance in this area.

An excellent panfish highly regarded as a food fish in the Eastern United States, it is not often exploited as a game fish and generally is regarded as undesirable, especially when over-population in fresh waters causes the species to become stunted.

White Perch IL/IN Sea Grant
White Perch Fish of the Great Lakes, Wisconsin Sea Grant
Is it a white bass or a white perch? Invasive exotic species, Minnesota Sea Grant
White Perch in the Great Lakes Region Great Lakes Information Network (GLIN)
Morone americana (Gmelin 1789) Nonindigenous Aquatic Species, United States Geological Survey (USGS)