A Tale of 2 Perch

2 perch, 2 very different lives. They may have been pulled out of the same hole in the ice just minutes apart on Muskegon Lake but they are not the same. Locally they are referred to as yellow bellies and white bellies. Although I’ve seen them called anything from white perch, to males and females, to different species. Fish ID almost always takes a strange turn on the internet. I’m here to clear a couple things up about them.

First of all they are most definitely the same species…yellow perch. While they appear similar there are some noticeable differences as well. Body shape and color are the clear indicators here. One being darker and taller/fatter the other much paler and more slender.

Why the different looks? These fish live in vastly different environments then converge in late fall/winter in the same body of water. The dark fish are resident Muskegon Lake perch. The paler fish are transients from Lake Michigan that arrive in the drowned river mouth lakes from fall to early spring.

There are varying hypotheses on what they are doing in the drowned river mouth lakes. Some think it is to spawn, I think it is to feed. It seems like if spawning were occurring in Muskegon Lake there would be some mixed characteristics. I just never see that, they are always Lake Michigan or resident fish. That leads me to believe the Lake Michigan fish head back out before spawning. I’ve also caught females full of eggs doing a gillnet survey in Lake Michigan. I think they are just here to take advantage of the nutrient rich waters in Muskegon Lake and get some easy meals.