Editing Percidae

{{Short description|Family of fishes}}
{{Automatic taxobox
| fossil_range = {{fossil range|Middle Miocene|present|earliest=Lutetian}}
| image = YellowPerch.jpg
| image_caption = [[Yellow perch]] (''Perca flavescens'')
| image2 = Etheostoma osburni.jpg
| image2_caption = [[Candy darter]] (''Etheostoma osburni'')
| taxon = Percidae
| authority = [[Constantine Samuel Rafinesque|Rafinesque]], 1815<ref name = VDLEF>{{cite journal | author1 = Richard van der Laan | author2 = William N. Eschmeyer | author3 = Ronald Fricke | name-list-style = amp |year=2014 | title = Family-group names of Recent fishes | url = https://biotaxa.org/Zootaxa/article/view/zootaxa.3882.1.1/10480 | journal = Zootaxa | volume = 3882 | issue =2 | pages = 001–230}}</ref>
| subdivision_ranks = Subfamilies
| subdivision = see text
}}

The '''Percidae''' are a [[Family (biology)|family]] of [[ray-finned fish]], part of the [[Order (biology)|order]] [[Perciformes]], which are found in fresh and [[brackish]] waters of the [[Northern Hemisphere]]. The majority are [[Nearctic]], but there are also [[Palearctic]] species. The family contains nearly 250 species in 12 genera.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=CAS - Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes - Genera/Species by Family/Subfamily |url=https://researcharchive.calacademy.org/research/ichthyology/catalog/SpeciesByFamily.asp |access-date=2025-04-22 |website=researcharchive.calacademy.org}}</ref> The perches and their relatives are in this family; well-known species include the [[walleye]], [[sauger]], [[ruffe]], and three species of [[perch]]. However, small fish known as [[Darter (fish)|darters]] are also a part of this family. 

Despite the widespread and speciose nature of this family, the vast majority of its species diversity is within the darters, which are restricted to eastern North America, and the majority of which have small ranges. Excluding the darters, this family contains only 20 species.<ref name=":0" /> In Europe, percids were likely a more ecologically dominant group in the past than now, with the immigration of [[Cyprinidae|cyprinids]] to Europe during the [[Miocene]] causing a decline in their importance.<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal |last=Kovalchuk |first=Oleksandr M. |last2=and Murray |first2=Alison M. |date=2016-05-03 |title=Late Miocene and Pliocene pikeperches (Teleostei, Percidae) of southeastern Europe |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02724634.2016.1100999 |journal=Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology |volume=36 |issue=3 |pages=e1100999 |doi=10.1080/02724634.2016.1100999 |issn=0272-4634}}</ref>

==Characteristics==
The family is characterised by having the [[dorsal fin]] split into two<ref name = IFNY>{{cite web | author1 = Kraft C.E | author2 = D.M. Carlson | author3 = M. Carlson | year = 2006  |title = Inland fishes of New York (online) Version4.0 | url = http://www2.dnr.cornell.edu/cek7/nyfish/index.html | publisher = Department of Natural Resources, Cornell University and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation}}</ref> which are normally separated or have a narrow connection, although this is wider in the genus ''Zingel'',<ref name="Nelson5">{{cite book |author1=J. S. Nelson |url=https://sites.google.com/site/fotw5th/ |title=Fishes of the World |author2=T. C. Grande |author3=M. V. H. Wilson |publisher=Wiley |year=2016 |ISBN=978-1-118-34233-6 |edition=5th |pages=448–450}}</ref> the front section contains the spines and the rear section contains the soft rays.<ref name = IFNY/> The [[anal fin]] contains 1 or 2 spines, if there is a second spine it is typically weak. The [[pelvic fins]] are placed on the [[thorax]] and have a single spine and 5 soft rays. They also have skeletal [[synapomorphy|synapomorphies]].<ref name = Nelson5/> The maximum size attained is {{convert|100|cm|in}} in the [[zander]] (''Sander lucioperca'')<ref name="Fishbase">{{FishBase family|family=Percidae|month=December|year=2019}}</ref> but most of the species in the family are much smaller.<ref name = Nelson5/> Their scales are [[ctenoid]] and their bodies are normally somewhat elongate.<ref name = Britannia>{{cite web | url = https://www.britannica.com/animal/perciform/Form-and-function#ref1044889 | title = Percidae: Form and Function | access-date = 12 September 2020 | publisher = Encyclopaedia Britannica}}</ref>

==Systematics==
The following classification is based on ''[[Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes]]'' (2025):<ref name = CofFF>{{Cof family | family = Percidae | access-date = 11 September 2020}}</ref>

* Subfamily [[Percinae]] <small>Rafinesque, 1815</small>
** Genus ''[[Gymnocephalus]]'' <small>[[Marcus Elieser Bloch|Bloch]], 1793</small>
** Genus ''[[Perch|Perca]]'' <small>[[Carolus Linnaeus|Linnaeus]], 1758</small>
** Genus ''[[Percarina]]'' <small>[[Alexander von Nordmann|Nordmann]], 1840</small>
* Subfamily [[Luciopercinae]] <small>[[David Starr Jordan|Jordan]] & [[Barton Warren Evermann|Evermann]], 1896</small>
** Tribe [[Luciopercini]] <small>Jordan & Evermann 1896</small>
*** Genus ''[[Sander (fish)|Sander]]'' <small>[[Lorenz Oken|Oken]], 1817</small>
*** Genus †''[[Leobergia]]'' <small>Schtylko, 1934</small> ([[Neogene]] of eastern Europe)<ref name=":1" />
** Tribe [[Romanichthyini]] <small>Dumitrescu, Bănărescu & Stoica 1957</small>
*** Genus ''[[Romanichthys]]'' <small>Dumitrescu, Bănărescu & Stoica 1957</small>
*** Genus ''[[Zingel]]'' <small>[[Hippolyte Cloquet|Cloquet]], 1817</small>
* Subfamily [[Etheostomatinae]] <small>[[Louis Agassiz|Agassiz]], 1850</small>
** Genus ''[[Ammocrypta]]'' <small>Jordan, 1877</small>
** Genus ''[[Etheostoma]]'' <small>Rafinesque, 1817</small>
** Genus ''[[Nothonotus]]'' <small>[[Frederic Ward Putnam|Putnam]], 1863</small>
** Genus ''[[Percina]]'' <small>[[Samuel Stehman Haldeman|Haldeman]], 1842</small>
Under a former treatment by the 5th Edition of ''[[Fishes of the World]]'', ''Gymnocephalus'' was placed in its own subfamily, [[Acerinae]], as was ''Percarina'' in [[Percarininae]].<ref name="Nelson5" /><ref name="Fishbase" />

Although the family likely underwent an evolutionary radiation during the [[Paleogene]], the earliest definitive fossil remains of percids are of modern ''[[Sander (fish)|Sander]]'' from the [[Middle Miocene]] of Canada. †''[[Vixperca]]'' <small>Peña Zarzuelo, 1991</small> from the [[Eocene|Middle Eocene]] of Spain has been suggested to be the earliest known percid, but its remains are fragmentary and show closer similarities to [[Latidae|lates perches]] than to true perches.<ref name=":1" />

==References==
{{Commons category|Percidae}}
{{Reflist}}

{{Taxonbar|from=Q746136}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Percidae| ]]
[[Category:Perciformes families]]
[[Category:Taxa named by Constantine Samuel Rafinesque]]