[4] Latitudinal variability in age, growth rates, and size have been observed among populations of yellow perch, likely resulting from differences in day length and annual water temperatures.

[6] The yellow perch has an elongate, laterally compressed body[4] with a subterminal mouth[7] and a relatively long but blunt snout which is surpassed in length by the lower jaw.

[4] The upper part of the head and body varies in colour from bright green through to olive or golden brown.

[8] The colour on the upper body extends onto the flanks where it creates a pattern of 6–8 vertical bars over a background of yellow or yellowish green.

[3] Yellow perch are native to the tributaries of the Atlantic Oceans and Hudson Bay in North America, particularly the Great Lakes–St.

It was primarily limited to the lakes in the Peace River drainage of British Columbia, but has currently expanded to other bordering areas since.

[13] Yellow perch are commonly found in the littoral zones of both large and small lakes, but also inhabit slow-moving rivers and streams, brackish waters, and ponds.

Eggs are laid in a gelatinous strand (commonly 10,000–40,000), a characteristic unique among North American freshwater fishes.

[14] They are commonly found in the littoral zones of both large and small lakes, but they also inhabit slow-moving rivers and streams, brackish waters, and ponds.

Yellow perch commonly reside in shallow water, but are occasionally found deeper than 15 m (49 ft) or on the bottom.

Yellow perch spawn once a year in spring using large schools and shallow areas of a lake or low-current tributary streams.

"[16] Yellow perch spawn once a year in spring using large schools and shallow areas of a lake or low-current tributary streams.

Immediately after hatching, yellow perch head for the pelagic shores to school and are typically 5 mm long at this point.

[4] Sexual dimorphism is known to occur in the northern waters where females are often larger, grow faster, live longer, and mature in 3–4 years.

Seasonal movements tend to follow the 20 °C isotherm and water temperature is the most important factor influencing fish distribution.

They are most dense within aquatic vegetation, since they naturally school, but also prefer small, weed-filled water bodies with muck, gravel, or sand bottoms.

However, in shallow natural lakes, largemouth bass Micropterus salmoides may be most influential in structuring the quality of yellow perch populations.

[17] In eastern North America, yellow perch are an extremely important food source for birds such as double-crested cormorants.

Other birds also prey on them, such as eagles, herring gulls, hawks, diving ducks, kingfishers, herons, mergansers, loons, and white pelicans.

Managers have identified seven key unauthorized pathways for the introduction of the yellow perch to non-native regions: shipping, recreational and commercial boating, construction of new canals and water diversions, releases from live food fish markets, releases from the aquarium and water garden trade, use of live bait, and illegal introductions to create new fisheries.

was discovered in yellow perch on the Eagle River Chain of Lakes in Vilas County in Wisconsin, and has since been found in Minnesota, Michigan, and Ontario.

[4] Yellow perch are a popular sport fish, prized by both recreational anglers and commercial fishermen for their delicious, mild flavor.

Because yellow perch are among the finest flavored pan fish, they are occasionally misrepresented on menus within the restaurant industry.

The voracious feeding habits of yellow perch make them fairly easy to catch when schools are located, and they are frequently caught by recreational anglers targeting other species.

Perch at times attack lures normally used for bass such a 3" tubes, Rapala minnows, and larger curl tail grubs on jigheads, and small, brightly colored casting spoons, but the simplest way to catch them is to use light line, 4 to 8# test and light, unpainted jig heads, 1/32–1/16 oz.

Thin, straight-tail grubs require the slowest speed of retrieval and are preferred when the bite is slow, which is much of the time.

This species has shown a net weight gain between 37 and 78 grams over a three-year period in a study that raised yellow perch in outdoor ponds.

[25][26][27] For over 100 years, Canada and the United States have been commercially harvesting yellow perch in the Great Lakes with trapnets, gillnets, and poundnets.

[4]: 15  The greatest demand in the United States is in the north-central region, where nearly 70% of all yellow perch sales in the US occur within 80 km (49.7 mi) of the Great Lakes.

[26] According to Brown, Runciman, Bradford and Pollard (2009), the genus name, Perca, is derived from ancient Greek for "perch" and the specific epithet, flavescens, is Latin for "becoming gold" or "yellow colored".