It has a greenish-yellow colour with some dark vertical bands on the sides and a dorsal hump that becomes more pronounced with age.
Of the two dorsal fins, the anterior one is larger, equipped with robust spiny rays (which sometimes prick inexperienced fishermen) and has a dark spot corresponding to the last three rays. The ventral fins are positioned forward, yellow-orange in color, like the anal and caudal fins. It can exceed 40 cm in length and 2 kg in weight, but the most common sizes in the lakes of Trentino are 15–20 cm. It lives in almost all the province's lakes below 1,000 meters, in the Adige River, the lower Noce River, and the Caldaro Trench. It prefers well-oxygenated waters with vegetation. It is a predominantly fish-eating predator. In lakes, it stays in surface waters in summer, hunting bleak; in winter, it moves to deeper waters. It has a marked tendency toward gregariousness, which is more pronounced in juveniles. It also displays a certain tendency to wander (e.g., sporadic migrations of juveniles from Lake Serraia into the Silla River). It spawns between April and June: each female lays tens of thousands of small eggs clustered in long gelatinous ribbons on the vegetation near the shore. The fry hatch after 15–20 days. As generations pass, perch populations can exhibit significant numerical fluctuations and, consequently, different growth rates. Introduced into the lakes of Trentino in the first half of the last century by professional fishermen, the perch is also prized by amateur anglers. It is also easy to propagate, as the eggs are easily recovered: at the beginning of the spawning season, fisheries officials immerse bundles of wood on the lakeshore, where the ribbons of eggs are found, which can then be collected and transported elsewhere. The delicate and flavorful flesh of the perch is highly sought after; locally (e.g., Lake Caldonazzo) it was processed into fillets.
Also called: perch.
Dialect: persec, pess persec, persego. G. TOMASI, 2004 - The Three Hundred Lakes of Trentino. Ed. Artimedia – Temi, Trento, 535 pp.
