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Folks,I have had numerous discussions with a fellow worker regarding multiple sub-species of yellow perch on Champlain. He claims that there are several different sub species, and that like Canada geese, there are bigger and smaller sub species.Based on his theory, the larger perch school together, the smaller perch school with their own kind, and so on. His claim is that all fisherman should kill as many of the smaller sub species perch as possible to reduce competion between sub species.Is their any truth to this???Thanks,Ken
I dont know just my very uselss 2 cents
Ok, I'll attempt a reply.I have never heard of sub species or different strains of yellow perch in Champlain. It is possible to exist in some form with different waterbodies that aren't connected, like champlain vs. magog for example where fish may express different growth, habits, etc. And this may perhaps happen on Champlain with lets say northern perch vs southern perch where and IF they don't share the same habitats, but I'm not a biologist so I'm thinking aloud.My question to your friend is, does he catch small and large perch within travel distance of each other? And if he says that they DO compete with each other for food, then they MUST overlap thier habitat and probably spawn in the same areas and are probably the same strain and just separated by size/age.But if he does catch adult spawing fish of different size classes in separate areas, that would an be interesting observation.I'm not a perch biologist so I'm just throwing ideas out there.