Vegetation during Incubation Improves the Hatching Success of Yellow Perch Eyed Eggs

Yellow perch Perca flavescens are an economically important fish species in North America, with considerable recreational and aquaculture interest [1, 2]. They have a stranding reproductive strategy with eggs encased in gelatinous ribbons deposited on vegetation [3]. After water hardening, the egg strand can measure over two meters [4].The closely related Eurasian perch P. fluviatilis also prefers to deposit egg strands on submerged vegetation compared to bare bottom [5], with eggs on vegetation experiencing higher survival than those deposited on the lake bottom [6]. Higher survival of eggs deposited on vegetation may be due to increased ventilation and reduced siltation [7] or decreased micro-organism-induced mortality[6].