Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Toxicity of Yellow perch eggs.

Hello.

I would like to know if it is true that Yellow perch eggs contain a toxic substance that discourage their predations for most fish.

A+

I doubt the substance in YP eggs is toxic - off or offending flavor but not toxic. The offending flavor is probably not in the egg itself but in the gelatinous matrix.

Very interesting RAH

Frogfish saltwater fish produce a gelatinous flat ribbon of eggs.

I do know the mallard duck will eat every egg ribbon they can find in our perch pond.

Have you seen the ducks eat the eggs or just found the egg ribbons destroyed?

Hello.

Thanks Mr. Cody, following RAH, I found another site that talks about it.

http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/abs/10.1139/z85-430

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See the next PB mag issue for
Yellow Perch stocking – survival, growth and recruitment -
Predators Reject Yellow Perch Egg Skeins, L. Zoe Almeida, Samuel C. Guffey, Tyler A. Krieg & Tomas O. Höök Transactions of the American Fisheries Society, 146:1, 173-180 (2017)

Not going to jump the gun on the article.

So after the mallard has bread the males hang out together. This is when I have seen them eat the eggs. The ribbon is not destroyed but completely gone.

Maybe it an acquired taste:)