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The Nonindigenous Occurrences section of the NAS species profiles has a new structure. The section is now dynamically updated from the NAS database to ensure that it contains the most current and accurate information. Occurrences are summarized in Table 1, alphabetically by state, with years of earliest and most recent observations, and the tally and names of drainages where the species was observed. The table contains hyperlinks to collections tables of specimens based on the states, years, and drainages selected. References to specimens that were not obtained through sighting reports and personal communications are found through the hyperlink in the Table 1 caption or through the individual specimens linked in the collections tables.

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Common name: White Perch

Taxonomy: available through www.itis.gov

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.

Size: 58 cm

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.

Alaska	Hawaii	Puerto Rico & Virgin Islands	Guam Saipan

Native range data for this species provided in part by NatureServe

Hydrologic Unit Codes (HUCs) Explained
Interactive maps: Point Distribution Maps

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.

Great Lakes: Widespread, with populations reproducing and overwintering at self-sustaining levels in all five Great Lakes.

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.

References: (click for full references)

Andrews, S.N., K. Zelman, T. Ellis, T. Linnansaari, and R.A. Curry. 2018. Diet of Striped Bass and Muskellunge downstream of a large hydroelectric dam: A preliminary investigation into suspected Atlantic Salmon smolt predation. North American Journal of Fisheries Management 38(3):734–746. https://doi.org/10.1002/nafm.10074.

Brown, R.W., M. Ebener, and T. Gorenflo. 1999. Great Lakes commercial fisheries: historical overview and prognosis for the future. In Great Lakes Fisheries Policy and Management: A Binational Perspective. Taylor, W.W., and C.P. Ferreri (Eds.). Michigan State University Press, East Lansing, MI, pp. 307-354.

Bur, M.T. 1986. Maturity and fecundity of the White Perch, Morone americana, in Western Lake Erie. Ohio Journal of Science 86(5):205–207. https://kb.osu.edu/handle/1811/23163.

Bur, M.T., and D.M. Klarer. 1991. Prey selection for the exotic cladoceran Bythotrephes cederstroemi by selected Lake Erie fishes. Journal of Great Lakes Research 17(1):85-93.

Cincotta, D. – West Virginia Department of Natural Resources, Elkville.

Clearwater, S.J., C.W. Hickey, and M.L. Martin. 2008. Overview of potential piscicides and molluscicides for controlling aquatic pest species in New Zealand. Science & Technical Publishing, New Zealand Department of Conservation, Wellington, New Zealand.

Cochran, P.A., and P.J. Hesse. 1994. Observations on the White Perch (Morone americana) early in its invasion of Wisconsin. Transactions of the Wisconsin Academy of Science, Arts and Letters 82:23-58.

Couture, S. C. and M. C. Watzin. 2008. Diet of invasive adult White Perch (Morone americana) and their effects on the zooplankton community in Missisquoi Bay, Lake Champlain. Journal of Great Lakes Research 34(3):485-494.

Dann, S.L., and B.C. Schroeder. 2003. The Life of the Lakes: A Guide to the Great Lakes Fishery. Michigan Sea Grant, 56 pp.

Dence, W.A. 1952. Establishment of White Perch, Morone americana, in central New York. Copeia 1952(3):200-201.

Eads, C.B., J.E. Price, and J.F. Levine. 2015. Fish hosts of four freshwater mussel species in the Broad River, South Carolina. Southeastern Naturalist 14(1):85–97. https://doi.org/10.1656/058.014.0120.

Feiner, Z.S., D.D. Aday, and J.A. Rice. 2012. Phenotypic shifts in White Perch life history strategy across stages of invasion. Biological Invasions 14(11):2315-2329.

Feiner, Z.S., M.K. Brey, and C. Burgett. 2019. Consistently high trophic overlap between invasive White Perch and native Black Crappies in southeastern reservoirs. North American Journal of Fisheries Management 39(1):135-149. https://afspubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/nafm.10256.

Feiner, Z.S., J.A. Rice, and D.D. Aday. 2013. Trophic niche of invasive White Perch and potential interactions with representative reservoir species. Transactions of the American Fisheries Society 142(3):628-641. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00028487.2013.763854

Feiner, Z.S., J.A. Rice, A.J. Bunch, and D.D. Aday. 2013. Trophic niche and diet overlap between invasive White Perch and resident White Bass in a southeastern reservoir. Transactions of the American Fisheries Society 142(4):912-919. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00028487.2013.788563.

GLMRIS. 2012. Appendix C: Inventory of Available Controls for Aquatic Nuisance Species of Concern, Chicago Area Waterway System. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Hergenrader, G.L., and Q.P. Bliss. 1971. The White Perch in Nebraska. Transactions of the American Fisheries Society 100(4):734-738.

Horner, R. - Fish Pathology and Aquaculture Coordinator, State of Illinois, Manito, IL. Response to NBS-G nonindigenous questionnaire. 1992.

Hoyle, J.A., J.P. Holden, and M.J. Yuille. 2017. Diet and relative weight in migratory walleye (Sander vitreus) of the Bay of Quinte and eastern Lake Ontario, 1992-2015. Journal of Great Lakes Research 43(5):846–853. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jglr.2017.01.013.

International Joint Commission. 2011. 2009-2011 Priority Cycle Report on Binational Aquatic Invasive Species Rapid Response.  Prepared by the Binational Aquatic Invasive Species Rapid Response Work Group for the International Joint Commission. Canada and the United States.

Irons, K.S., T.M. O'Hara, M.A. McClelland, and M.A. Pegg. 2002. White perch occurrence, spread, and hybridization in the middle Illinois River, upper Mississippi River system. Transactions of the Illinois State Academy of Science 95(3):207-214.

Jenkins, R.E., and N.M. Burkhead. 1994. Freshwater fishes of Virginia. American Fisheries Society, Bethesda, MD.

Johnson, T.B., and D.O. Evans. 1990. Size-dependent winter mortality of young-of-the-year White Perch: climate warming and invasion of the Laurentian Great Lakes. Transactions of the American Fisheries Society 119:301-313.

Jones, K.M.M., and K.W. Able. 2015. Abundance and diet of predatory fishes in phragmites, treated phragmites, and natural spartina marshes in Delaware Bay. Estuaries and Coasts 38(4):1350–1364. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12237-014-9883-5.

Konrad, M. – Iowa Department of Natural Resources, Des Moines.

Kraus, R.T., J.D. Schmitt, and K.R. Keretz. 2021. Resource partitioning across a trophic gradient between a freshwater fish and an intraguild exotic. Ecology of Freshwater Fish 30(3):320–333. https://doi.org/10.1111/eff.12586.

Larsen, L. 1954. First record of the White Perch (Morone americana) in Lake Erie. Copeia 1954(2):154.

Lee, D.S., C.R. Gilbert, C.H. Hocutt, R.E. Jenkins, D.E. McAllister, and J.R. Stauffer, Jr. 1980 et seq. Atlas of North American freshwater fishes. North Carolina State Museum of Natural History, Raleigh, NC.

Madenjian, C.P., R.L. Knight, M.T. Bur, and J.L. Forney. 2000. Reduction in recruitment of white bass in Lake Erie after invasion of White Perch. Transactions of the American Fisheries Society 129(6):1340-1353.

Madura, P.T., and H.P. Jones. 2016. Invasive species sustain double-crested cormorants in southern Lake Michigan. Journal of Great Lakes Research 42(2):413-420.

Mansueti, R.J. 1964. Eggs, larvae, and young of the White Perch, Roccus americanus, with comments on its ecology in the estuary. Chesapeake Science 5(1-2):3-45.

Matsche, M.A., C.R. Adams, and V.S. Blazer. 2019. Newly described coccidia Goussia bayae from White Perch Morone americana: Morphology and phylogenetics support emerging taxonomy of Goussia within piscine hosts. Journal of Parasitology 105(1):1–10. https://doi.org/10.1645/18-67.

Miller, J.W., P.M. Kocovsky, D. Wiegmann, and J.G. Miner. 2018. Fish community responses to submerged aquatic vegetation in Maumee Bay, Western Lake Erie. North American Journal of Fisheries Management 38(3):623–629. https://doi.org/10.1002/nafm.10061.

Mills, E.L., J.H. Leach, J.T. Carlton, and C.L. Secor. 1993. Exotic species in the Great Lakes: a history of biotic crisis and anthropogenic introductions. Journal of Great Lakes Research 19(1):1-54.

Mosher, T. – Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks, Emporia, KS.

Okoye, A.O., A.S. Overton, M. Loeffler, and S.E. Winslow. 2008. White perch fecundity relationships in western Albemarle Sound, North Carolina. Journal of the North Carolina Academy of Science 124(2):46–50. https://www.jstor.org/stable/24336325.Page, L.M., and B.M. Burr. 1991. A field guide to freshwater fishes of North America north of Mexico. The Peterson Field Guide Series, volume 42. Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, MA.

Parrish, D.L., and F.J. Margraf. 1990. Interactions between White Perch (Morone americana) and yellow perch (Perca flavescens) in Lake Erie as determined from feeding and growth. Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Science 47(9):1779-1787.

Parrish, D.L., and F.J. Margraf. 1994. Spatial and temporal patterns of food use by White Perch and yellow perch in Lake Erie. Journal of Freshwater Ecology 9(1):29-35.

Perrion, M.A., J.J. Jackson, A.J. Blank, J.D. Katt, and B.J. Schall. 2020. Adaptive stocking strategies of Hybrid Striped Bass in a Nebraska reservoir impacted by White Perch. Journal of Freshwater Ecology 35(1):379–390. https://doi.org/10.1080/02705060.2020.1822937.

Pflieger, W.L. 1997. The fishes of Missouri. Missouri Department of Conservation, Jefferson City, MO.

Pothoven, S.A., and T.O. Höök. 2015. Feeding ecology of invasive age-0 White Perch and native white bass after two decades of co-existence in Saginaw Bay, Lake Huron. Aquatic Invasions 10(3):347-357. http://dx.doi.org/10.3391/ai.2015.10.3.10Savitz, J., C. Aiello, and L.G. Bardygula. 1989. The first record of the White Perch (Morone americana) in Illinois waters of Lake Michigan. Transactions of the Illinois Academy of Science 82(1&2):57-58.

Schaeffer, J.S., and F.J. Margraf. 1987. Predation on fish eggs by White Perch, Morone americana, in western Lake Erie. Environmental Biology of Fishes 18(1):77-80.

Schmitt, J.D., J.A. Emmel, A.J. Bunch, C.D. Hilling, and D.J. Orth. 2019. Feeding ecology and distribution of an invasive apex predator: Flathead Catfish in subestuaries of the Chesapeake Bay, Virginia. North American Journal of Fisheries Management 39(2):390–402. https://doi.org/10.1002/nafm.10279.

Scott, W.B., and W.J. Christie. 1963. The invasion of the lower Great Lakes by White Perch, Roccus americanus (Gmelin). Journal of  Fisheries Research Board of Canada 20(5):1189-1195.

Scott, W.B., and E.J. Crossman. 1973. Freshwater fishes of Canada. Bulletin 184. Fisheries Research Board of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.

Smith, C.L. 1985. The inland fishes of New York state. New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, Albany, NY.

Smith, M.R. 2002. White Perch Management Plan. Maine Department of Fisheries and Wildlife, Division of Fisheries and Hatcheries.

Stapanian, M.A., M.T. Bur, and J.V. Adams. 2007. Temporal trends of young-of-year fishes in Lake Erie and comparison of diel sampling periods. Environmental Monitoring and Assessment 129(1-3):169-178.

Todd, T. – Great Lakes Science Center, U.S. Geological Survey, Biological Resources Division, Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Todd, T.N. 1986. Occurrence of white bass-White Perch hybrids in Lake Erie. Copeia 1986(1):196-199.

Wituszynski, D.M., C. Hu, F. Zhang, J.D. Chaffin, J. Lee, S.A. Ludsin, and J.F. Martin. 2017. Microcystin in Lake Erie fish: Risk to human health and relationship to cyanobacterial blooms. Journal of Great Lakes Research 43(6):1084–1090. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jglr.2017.08.006.

Woolcott, W.S. 1962. Infraspecific variation in the White Perch, Roccus americanus (Gmelin). Chesapeake Science 3(2):94–113. https://doi.org/10.2307/1351222.

Other Resources:
White perch fact sheet - Sea Grant

White perch - Ohio DNR

White perch in the Great Lakes - Aquatic Exotics on the Move

White Perch (Morone americana) - Wisconsin DNR

Great Lakes Water Life

Global Invasive Species Database Factsheet

Author: Fuller, P., E. Maynard, D. Raikow, J. Larson, A. Fusaro, M. Neilson, and A. Bartos

Peer Review Date: 3/24/2022

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.