Fish facts #6 - Jeremy Wade feat. The Nile Perch [Video]

The biggest perch known perch in fresh waters is really strong and fast it makes him a ruthless predator. It's body shape and big dorsal spines are impressing much more that any perch I ever seen. Surely deserves for the greatest perch title. It's a great fishing trophy and I wish to add it to my collection.

Before you will see the video a short information about this fish.

The Nile Perch (Latin: Lates niloticus, Linnaeus, 1758)

Classification

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Chordata

Class: Actinopterygii (ray-finned fishes)

Order: Perciformes (Perch-likes)

Suborder: Percoidei

Family: Latidae (Lates perches)

Genus: Lates

Species: L. niloticus

Distribution

Africa: widespread throughout the Nilo-Sudan region of Africa, occurring commonly in all major river basins including the Senegal, Niger, Volta, Chad and Nile. Found almost everywhere in West Africa, except in Gambia. Also present in the Congo basin and lakes Albert, Turkana/Rudolph and Tana. Several countries report adverse ecological impact after introduction.

Size / Weight

Max length : 200 cm;

common length : 100.0 cm;

max. published weight: 200.0 kg;

Environment

Freshwater; demersal; potamodromous;

depth range 10 - 60 m

Tropical: 24 °C - 29 °C

27°N - 7°S

Short description

Diagnosis: mouth large and protrusible, lower jaw prominent; numerous villiform teeth present in jaws and on palate. Preorbital and preopercle denticulate. A strong opercular spine present. Caudal fin rounded. Scales ctenoid, 54-74 along lateral line, followed by 6-8 pored scales on caudal-fin base; ceratobranchial (lower limb) of first gill arch with 12-14 gill rakers. Coloration: body uniformly silvery or dark greyish-blue dorsally, greyish-silver on flank and ventrally. Fins greyish; interior of eye conspicuously yellowish; juveniles brownish with lighter marbling.

Biology

Inhabits channels, lakes and irrigation canals. Adults inhabit deep water, while juveniles are found in shallow water. Feeds on fish especially clupeids and Alestes; smaller fish also feed on larger crustaceans and insects. Juveniles are planktivorous. Threatened due to over harvesting . No length type given but assumed to be in TL. Maximum reported size of 180.0 cm corresponding to a weight of 164 kg in Lake Albert.

Supporting source: http://www.fishbase.org

Video