Yellow Perch Songs

yellow perch blues

Yellow Perch (Perca flavescens)

Yellow Perch (Perca flavescens) are native to Lake Erie and many other North American waterbodies. They are often found in schools along shorelines, amongst aquatic plants.

Yellow Perch are an extremely important food source for birds and wildlife. They're a catch prized by anglers, and are sometimes called Lake Erie gold.

Yellow Perch can be found throughout Lake Erie, and are managed as different regional populations, located in the western and central basins.

Seasonal hypoxia occurs every summer and fall in the central basin, while the western basin is typically well-oxygenated. Since 2014, populations of yellow perch in the western basin have been at healthy levels. But yellow perch population abundance in the central basin has been declining since the mid-2000s.

Project Breathless researchers from SUNY ESF are studying ear stones and eye lenses from Lake Erie yellow perch with a focus on Mercury contamination.

Mercury from pollutants can be found in lake bed sediments, where it is converted to the bio-available methylmercury under hypoxic conditions. Methylmercury enters the food web and can be detected in fish muscle tissues and eye lenses.

Like otoliths, eye lenses add annual growth rings and have the potential to provide a temporal log of a fish's exposure to Mercury. Researchers cross-referenced eye lens and ear stone data from individual fish in an effort to determine annual exposure to certain trace elements, like Mercury.

Hadis Miraly, PhD examines an eye lens.

a tale of two fishes

Lake Erie Western Basin Yellow Perch

Ear stone

This song was made with data from the ear stone of a 4-year old yellow perch that lived in Lake Erie's western basin. It features Magnesium (Mg), which reflects a fish's metabolism, performed on the marimba. It also features Manganese (Mn), played on trumpet. Manganese on an ear stone indicates that a fish spent time in hypoxic water. Sonically, this is represented by pitch - the higher the pitch, the more Manganese. Since this fish didn't swim in hypoxic water, the levels of Manganese in its ear stone is very low, which is reflected in the low pitch of the trumpet throughout much of the song.

Track 2_WB_LE_YP OTO Cmaj100bpmMgCa_marimba_eoctx1_MnMgtrumpet_2oxtx2acending.mp3

Song composed of ear stone data from a 4-year-old Yellow Perch.

Track 4_WB_YP_LENS_HgSmandolin_SEbass.mp3

Song composed of eye lens data from a 4-year-old Yellow Perch.

Eye lens

This song was made with data from the eye lens of the same 4-year old yellow perch. Eye lenses are composed of proteins, which have different chemical affinities than the calcium carbonate structure of ear stones, so they take up different trace elements, including Mercury. This song features Mercury/Sulfur (Hg/S) played on marimba and Selenium (Se) played on double bass. Mercury and Selenium bind to the same tissues, and when Selenium is present in the water, tissue will absorb it instead of Mercury, so Selenium may have a protective effect. Listen for the differences in pitches of the marimba and trumpet to get a sense of the inverse relationship between Hg/S and Se in the fish's eye lens.

Lake Erie Central Basin Yellow Perch

Ear stone

This song was made with data from the ear stone of a 2-year old female yellow perch that lived in Lake Erie's central basin. It features Magnesium (Mg), which reflects a fish's metabolism, performed on piano and marimba. It also features Manganese (Mn), played on violin enhanced by digital effects.

The Manganese deposited on this fish's ear stone indicates exposure to hypoxic conditions during the first half of its life. Fortunately, it survived that exposure and spent the second half of its life under healthy oxygen conditions.

Track1_CB_YP_hypoxic otolith_3_21_22, 9.56 PM.m4a

Song composed of ear stone data from a 2-year-old Yellow Perch.

Track3_CB_YP_LENS_HgS_Cmaj_mandolin_x3_60bpm+Se_Cmaj_bass_x1_106bpm.mp3

Song composed of eye lens data from a 2-year-old Yellow Perch.

Eye lens

This song was made with data from the eye lens of the same 2-year old yellow perch. It features Mercury/Sulfur (Hg/S) played on marimba and Selenium (Se) played on double bass. Mercury and Selenium bind to the same tissues, and when Selenium is present in the water, tissue will absorb it instead of Mercury, so Selenium may have a protective effect. Listen for the differences in pitches of the marimba and trumpet to get a sense of the inverse relationship between Hg/S and Se in the fish's eye lens.

Ears & eyes

This song compares data from the ear stone and eye lens of the 2-year old yellow perch that lived in the Lake Erie central basin. The song features Manganese (MnMg), a trace element deposited on the otolith that indicates hypoxia exposure, on violin with digital effects. It also features Mercury (Hg/S), deposited on the eye lens, on mandolin.

Track 5_LE_YP_CB_OtoMnMg_LensHgS_FX.mp3

Song composed of ear stone and eye lens data from a 2-year-old Yellow Perch.

Copyright © Karin Limburg, Elizabeth LoGiudice, SUNY, RF SUNY / 2020, 2021. All rights reserved. These Fish Songs may not be published, reproduced, displayed, modified or distributed without the express prior written permission of the copyright holder. For permission, contact [klimburg@esf.edu].

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