Ordinary zander belongs to the perch family of fish. This is a valuable commercial fish. But often it is for zander that they arrange a sport hunt. It lives together with a family of cyprinids, which include bream and common carp. It is in the winter.
Description
Outwardly, ordinary zander, the photo of which is presented in the article, has a peculiar color, in which green and gray tones predominate. The belly is white, and on the sides there are several black stripes, fins with dark spots. The pike perch has a large mouth, teeth are arranged in several rows, there are quite strong fangs. In vivo, ordinary pike perch can live up to 14 years and gain body weight up to 18 kilograms. It begins to grow intensively at the optimum temperature and feed regime, which can be provided with a reservoir.
The organs of taste in common pike perch are similar to the organs of vertebrate animals. But there are some differences in the structure.
The organs of taste and smell perceive chemical irritations. The organs of vision, hearing and touch sense the light, sound and movement of water. This feeling is called temperature. And the so-called lateral vision, the ability to move sideways, is developed in fish. Terrestrial animals have long lost such an extra feeling.
Ordinary zander is extremely sensitive to odors, which helps it quickly respond to any chemical additives in the water. And he feels them over long distances.
Common pike perch. Lifestyle, habitat
Zander is a twilight predator that lives in great depths. Lifestyle of pikeperch, like an ordinary predatory fish. Small fish is an excellent food for him. In ponds of marshy water, zander will never live, as it is sensitive to a lack of oxygen in the water. When the water is warm enough, this picky resident of the reservoir can be seen at a depth of even two meters. His lifestyle is very interesting, since the fish is very active at any time of the day. Prefers shallow water at night, and with the onset of twilight it sinks as deep as possible. Sand, pebbles with stones and driftwood are real “friends” of zander. It can perfectly hide behind any large object and sit in ambush.
For food, ordinary pike perch chooses minnows, bleak, tyulka. Experienced fishermen, knowing such preferences of a predator, use these fish for fishing "live bait".
Breeding
Zander breeds at temperatures above 12 degrees Celsius in early May. Heavily littered areas are his favorite places to spawn.
From birth, pike perch fry show their predatory nature, eating young fish of other fish. This fish is found in fresh and in brackish waters.
Food
An interesting and unusual fish is ordinary zander. Its nutrition does not immediately become characteristic of predators. The first months, young fish eat plankton. What harmless creatures, however! No, it wasn’t there. Children of pike perch still have time to catch up, and soon from them there will be no passage for perches and ruffs, smelt and vendace. The male pike perch makes a nest in shallow waters and guards it, cleans and “airs” it with fins. Outwardly, this predator looks like another predatory fish, like a pike. This similarity is expressed in a long and pointed face.
Pike perch reaches large sizes. These individuals, of course, are not found everywhere, but only in the rivers Dnieper, Don and Kuban. This fish moves very quickly, as befits a predator. Sudak is voracious and strong. Choosing the tactics of waiting and ambush in hunting, he achieves a surprise effect to capture his prey. And always triumphs. Pike perch never remains hungry. If he fails to catch the fish, he will eat both the crayfish and the frog. Although a predator, but this representative has a very meek disposition.
Zander is not too whimsical to the conditions of detention, because it is easily bred even by amateur fishermen. One female can produce more than a thousand fry.
Is the fish tasty? Is it useful?
The meat of ordinary zander in cooking is considered a special gourmet product. The protein in it contains more than 18 percent, 20 amino acids and many minerals necessary for the normal functioning of the human body.
How to clean
Everyone knows how delicious ordinary zander is. How to clean it, are there any peculiarities in this procedure? Yes, such an interesting fish is also interesting to clean. The hostess will need: a knife, a fork and a wand. You can, of course, replace it with an ordinary pencil.
So, you should cut off the fins and place the fish in clean cold water. With a fork, make small grooves along an oblique line against the scales of the fish. This will make the cleaning process easy. You can hold the fish with a small device: sticks inserted into the mouth of a pike perch. You can lower the carcass of fish into boiling water for a couple of minutes. Scales after such a heat treatment will separate even without a knife. Another good piece of advice on how to quickly separate the scales from the fish is to grate them before brushing with salt. Some fishermen prefer to cook fish soup from zander directly with scales. They believe that this even improves the taste of the cooked dish. This fish and fried with scales.
