Head to head
Zander vs European Perch
Zander
VS European Perch
The zander and the European perch are close relatives in the perch family, and both are spiny-finned predators of lakes and rivers, but they look and hunt quite differently.
| Zander | European Perch | |
|---|---|---|
| Scientific name | Sander lucioperca | Perca fluviatilis |
| Relationship | A close relative in the perch family, the Percidae | The species on which the whole perch family is based |
| Body | A long, slim body like a pike, with sharp, canine-like teeth in its jaws | A deep, slab-sided greenish body with five to eight dark vertical bars |
| Fins | A spiny first dorsal fin like a perch | A spiny front dorsal fin with a black blotch at its rear corner, and bright red to orange pelvic and anal fins |
| Hunting | Large, pale, reflective eyes adapted to hunting in dim or cloudy water | Ambushes prey from weedy cover and the edges of the shallows, with young perch hunting in tight shoals and big ones turning solitary |
| Size | Can reach over a metre in length and many kilograms in weight | A medium-sized fish, usually much smaller than a large zander |
| Breeding | The male digs a shallow nest in sand or among roots in spring and guards the eggs until they hatch | The female drapes a single long, lacy ribbon of tens of thousands of eggs over submerged branches and weeds, and gives them no further care |
| Conservation status | Least Concern, and introduced to many countries, including Britain in the 1960s | Least Concern, and introduced to Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa, where it is a pest |
Zander vs European Perch: common questions
Is a zander a type of perch?
It is a close relative of the perch, in the same family, the Percidae, but it has a longer, slimmer body, large pale eyes, and canine-like teeth.
Which one has red fins?
The European perch, whose pelvic and anal fins are bright red to orange and which also has dark vertical bars on its flanks.
Which fish guards its eggs?
The male zander digs a shallow nest and guards the eggs until they hatch, while the perch drapes its eggs over weeds and leaves them.