???Blue Perch????

So since the fishing with the weather has been slow here lately thought i would toss something out to get some response about it. A few weekend ago i was fishing with my father in law out at D can by the reefs. I caught a blue perch. I had never seen one before. This thing was blue blue. Not silver, not kinda blue. But a nice medium blue color. Blue fins. Looked just like a yellow perch, but it was blue. other than the color it did not look any differant than every other fish in cooler, not bigger or smaller, or fatter

I wish i would had taken a picture, and i have looked on goodle and seen other pics that looks just like this one. It stood out like swore in the cooler, and after it was cleaned the skin was still just as blue, so it was not color in the scales or a slime on the fish.

First off are these safe to eat? Second anyone have any idea why it would be blue other than just a differant type of perch or a werid genetic thing. Thrid any idea what percent of these are out there. Anyone else ever get one?

In all the years of perch fishing I have caught maybe 25 to 30 of those blue perch. I have or someone close to me in my family has ate all of them with no health issues that we know of. Post your question on the Ohio SeaGrant site I am sure those good people will answer your questions about that blue perch and probably throw in some history to boot. Just signup and ask away and best of all it is free.

http://ohioseagrant.osu.edu/discuss/index.php?board=1.0

Forgot to add that I have not caught any in the last 10 to 15 years, there is also walleyes that are similar in color, most of the bluish to blue fish seem to come from Huron on East.

I caught one 30 yrs ago fishing in Canada. I was told it was a albino and lacked pigments. They say the chances of catching one is one in a million. To this day some you can tell do not believe me when I tell the stories of the blue perch. Now I know I am not alone, welcome to the Blue Perch Club... lol

1 in a million?? why could it had not been the lottery instead of 8inch fish. LOL that is a great picture. That look just like the one i caught but mine was a little darker blue. Course it was the one day i did not have my phone on me to take a picture of it. Guess if i ever get another one i will have it mounted if they are that rare. Glad to know i am not alone or just dreaming it up. Cause so far most ppl i have asked think i smoked a joint or something while i was out on the boat fishing.;)

I too would have one mounted if I caught one. I have been looking for a mounted perch for the cottage.

about 55 years ago as a kid I use to take a row boat out around Nickle plate Park at night with a lantern and using shiners catch double header of blue pickeral (sp)? If you are catching blue perch take them to the Ohio DNR. There may be a link to them. Best eating fish that I had ever had. Wish they would return.

I have heard there used to be blue walleye in the lake and i have read about others getting a blue walleye up north that ppl are saying are not the same as the ones that used to live in lake. Guess that is part of the fun in fishing never knowing what is on the other end of the line till it comes up. I have had huge fish come in like little ones, little ones fight like a hige one. and now an honest to god blue perch. I love my hobby

Posted a question about blue perch on Ohio Sea Grant. Will hopefully get a reply in a couple of days.

sounds good did not get a chance to be interested in what they have to say

The blue walleye (Sander vitreus glaucus), also called the blue pike, was a subspecies of the walleye that went extinct in the Great Lakes in the 1980s. Until the middle of the 20th century, it was a commercially valuable fish, with about a half million tonnes being landed during the period from about 1880 to the late 1950s, when the populations collapsed. To bad, I wish they were still around!

Here is a thread that OhioSeagrant directed me to. I also talked with a Ohio Fisheries Biologist and he said that the blue colored perch was most likely an albino. The following link is good reading.

http://ohioseagrant.osu.edu/discuss/....html#msg15929

good reading for sure. the blue not being in the skin though i have a question with. this fish when scaled and cleaned the skin was still very blue! So it all being in the slime of the fish, might be true for the walleye. But unless the slime stained the skin of this fish through the scales. This fish had blue skin. But an albino it might be. All in know it sure was differant.

Thanks for taking some time to look into it

The mucus glands are contained within the skin therefore if it is an albino with lack of normal coloration the glands and mucus would still be visible in the skin thus the blue color after scaling. an example would be to scale a northern pike and fillet, rinse the fillets untill no slime is present and refridgerate, those scaled and clean fillets will be snotty as all get out in just a couple of hours. That is the mucus glands in the skin at work! The same process works with all fish only more so with pike.

i had a friend of mine that caught about 3 or 4 on the same trip last year. Believe it or not he was harbor fishing in his row boat because the lake was all blown up and he caught several perch over 13 inches long and 3 or 4 were albinos, or blue perch