Zander

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Zander

Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Actinopterygii
Order:	Perciformes
Family:	Percidae
Genus:	Sander
Species:	S. lucioperca

Binomial name

Sander lucioperca
(Linnaeus, 1758)

Zander is a species of fish. The scientific name is Sander lucioperca (or Stizostedion lucioperca), and it is closely allied to perch. Zander are often called pike-perch as they resemble the pike with their elongated body and head, and the perch with their spiny dorsal fin. Zander are not, as is commonly believed, a pike and perch hybrid. In Europe, a second species (Lucioperca wolgensis) is limited to rivers in southern Russia and the basin of the Danube.

The zander is a common and popular game fish in Europe: it is often eaten and may reach 20 kilograms in size. Typical catches, however, are considerably smaller, and most anglers are very happy with fish of 5 kg or so. The zander is not indigenous to the UK, but was introduced into the East Anglian drains (large artificial rivers) in the 20th century, and spread rapidly.

Zander thrive in water with rather low visibility, whereas the pike often dominates the predator fish niche in clear water: pikes use their vision to find prey, while zander "listen" to the water, and are very active at night. However, they need plenty of oxygen and soon disappear from eutrophic areas.

In 2004, it was revealed that some restaurants in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area of Minnesota in the United States were serving imported zander instead of the closely related North American walleye (the state fish, and a popular food in the region). While zander and walleye are almost indistinguishable by taste, the restaurants were selling the European fish under the name "walleye", which is considered an illegal practice. An investigation by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration followed.