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Unusual 'Blue Perch' caught in Nipissing

A blue perch is a yellow perch with blue pigmentation and generally believed to be a genetic mutation

Granted, I'm not an angler but I've lived in Nipissing for most of my life and never seen this before.

Robin Maluga.sent in the photo to BayToday taken January 20.

"My husband and I fish a lot and have caught hundreds, if not thousands of perch. First time ever this year we caught a blue perch," she said.

The couple were off Sunset Point in the West Ferris area. and used a yellow and orange jig head tipped with a minnow.  

A blue perch is a yellow perch with blue pigmentation and generally believed to be a genetic mutation that causes it to take on the blue colour.  

It's considered an unusual catch.

On the website Iceshanty, a poster who caught one said he was told it was a one in a million catch. However, other anglers say it is unusual, but others have been caught in Nipissing before.

Meanwhile, Stephen Leroux tells BayToday he caught a 13-inch blue perch off Lee Park Ball Diamond on Lake Nipissing. (See our photo gallery)

He writes," This perch that was posted by Bay Today has a fair bit of yellow on it and scales missing. My take is that some bigger fish that has a ridge of very fine teeth had ahold of it. These are the bite marks of a Catfish or a Bass. The perch then develops a rash or skin irritation turning some sections greyish-blue.

"The explanation I got from one biologist was that if a perch is all blue or all grey it's because the calcium level in the fish's skin is high, as it's been feeding on clams. So.... the Blue Perch in my picture was actually a Yellow Perch that just got turned off eating minnows. This is the same chemical make up why Flamingos are Pink, from eating lots of shrimp. True Flamingos are white-bodied.

"Mine is still alive and I released it."


Jeff Turl

About the Author: Jeff Turl

Jeff is a veteran of the news biz. He's spent a lengthy career in TV, radio, print and online, covering both news and sports. He enjoys free time riding motorcycles and spoiling grandchildren.
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