Silver Perch

Silver perch (Bidyanus bidyanus) is a medium sized freshwater fish endemic to the Murray-Darling river system in south-eastern Australia. The scientific name comes from an aboriginal name for the species recorded by Major Mitchell on his 1832 expedition. It is not a perch, being a grunter in the family Terapontidae. It is the largest of the Australian grunters, capable of growing to 40 cm and 8 kg, more usually around 30 cm and up to 1.5 kg.

The silver perch is the only major representative of the Terapontidae family in the southern Murray-Darling system, compared to northern tropical systems where terapontid species are common. Another small terapontid, the spangled perch (Leiopotherapon unicolor), does occur sporadically in the northern Murray-Darling Basin.

Read more about Silver Perch:  Description, Diet, Distribution, Fishing, Spawning and Biology, Conservation

Famous quotes containing the words silver and/or perch:

    And now the chapel’s silver bell you hear,
    That summons you to all the pride of pray’r:
    Alexander Pope (1688–1744)

    The perch swallows the grub-worm, the pickerel swallows the perch, and the fisherman swallows the pickerel; and so all the chinks in the scale of being are filled.
    Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)