Percidae, Rafinesque, 1815

Vøllestad, Leif Asbjørn, 2023, A paradoxical bias in knowledge about Norwegian freshwater fishes: research efforts during 1980 - 2020, Fauna norvegica 42, pp. 6-30 : 18-19

publication ID

https://doi.org/10.5324/fn.v42i0.4965

DOI

https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.16927237

persistent identifier

https://treatment.plazi.org/id/371087DD-A253-FFEF-FC83-3F49FDDBFDF8

treatment provided by

Felipe

scientific name

Percidae
status

 

Percidae View in CoL

Three species of percids are found in Norway, but only the Eurasian perch Perca fluviatilis Linnaeus, 1758 is common over large areas. The perch is common both in North-Norway and in the south-eastern part of the country and is considered as one of the most common freshwater fishes in the country (Huitfeldt-Kaas 1918). Being common, and also of interest for recreational fishers, there has been considerable interest in this species by researchers. In total 55 articles were retrieved by the search, indicating that more the one article has been published per year in the period investigated.

The perch is a cold-water adapted fish that spawn early in spring. Being cold-adapted the perch was one of the first non-anadromous freshwater species that invaded Norway after the last glaciation. It is also one of the few Norwegian freshwater fish species where the immigration routes and phylogeography has been investigated in some detail (Refseth et al. 1998, Nesbø et al. 1999). These studies indicated that perch in southeast Norway probably belong to two different evolutionary lineages that penetrated into Norway via either a southern route (along the coast in the cold meltwater) or from the east through the Baltic Sea and through the large Swedish watercourses. If was postulated that these immigration routes probably have been used by other freshwater fishes also. Unfortunately, this has not been followed up using more up-to-date genetic methods.

Many studies on the perch have otherwise focussed on general population ecology ( Heibo and Vøllestad 2002, Heibo et al. 2005, Linløkken and Haugen 2006), including studies of food webs ( Amundsen et al. 2003a, Sharma and Borgstrøm 2008b, Linløkken and Hesthagen 2011). In relation to these food-web related studies there has been numerous studies on the accumulation of various pollutants (mercury, DDT, PCB, etc) ( Frøslie et al. 1985, Brevik et al. 1996, Amundsen et al. 1997, Okelsrud et al. 2016).

The perch is distribution in areas that was heavily impacted by acidification. Thus, several studies focussed on the effects and potential recovery following the reduction in acidification ( Hesthagen et al. 1993, Øxnevad et al. 1995, Saksgård and Hesthagen 1995, Østbye et al. 1997, Poléo et al. 1997). Clearly, the various studies that has been performed on perch has produced a general understanding of the ecology of this species. The perch also seems very resilient towards various ecological stressors. However, as evidenced by what is happening in the Baltic Sea where perch and pike has been reduced drastically during recent years ( Bergström et al. 2015, Eklöf et al. 2020), we need to keep an eye also on this species.

and their efforts, but rather the result of long-term planning and investment by relevant authorities and institutions. The summary of research effort provided in Table 1 View Table 1 may indicate to funding institution where research efforts needs to be directed, and my evaluation of the previous research activity may give an indication as to what kind of knowledge is most urgently needed.

The two other percid species (ruffe Gymnocephalus cernuus (Linnaeus, 1758) and pikeperch Sander lucioperca (Linnaeus, 1758)) have a very limited distribution in the south-eastern part of Norway, and only a very few studies were found focussing on these species ( Table 1 View Table 1 ). Actually, the retrieved studies only rarely focussed on the ecology of these two species ( Brabrand 1983, Vøllestad 1985, Kålås 1995, Hesthagen et al. 2012), and they were mostly published in Norwegian. This lack of focussed studies on these species are unfortunate, as they tend to be important parts of the food-web in lakes where they occur ( Brabrand and Faafeng 1993).

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Chordata

Order

Perciformes

Family

Percidae

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