Fish is of great importance in nature and in human life. It is a bird feed, a link in the nutritional chains of all living organisms. The main value of fish as food products is in proteins, vitamins and minerals. Fish oil is rich in vitamin D, which is very necessary for children and adults.
One of the representatives of perch is the bersh fish, the second name of which is the Volga pike perch. This is a large flocking predator, which belongs to the genus of zander: his photo can be seen below.
Bersh (fish): description
This is a representative of purely Russian fish, which has collected all the features of zander and perch. His body is elongated, spindle-shaped, covered with fine, firmly sitting scales on top.
The front fins consist of bone spines, which are interconnected by membranes. A characteristic feature is the formation of a small hump and large eyes. The teeth are almost all the same, with no sharp fangs. On the body there are transverse stripes of dark color, there are only eight of them. The cheeks are covered with small scales, on the body it is larger.
The ordinary weight inherent in a bersh is 0.8-1.2 kg and a length of 20-30 cm. Longer individuals are found in the waters of the Dnieper. According to the stories of fishermen, on the Volga there is a fish of this family weighing up to two kilograms and a length of up to 53 cm.
What is the difference between bersh and zander?
Zander is more valued in food, and bersh is fish, which is ignored by fishing enthusiasts and rarely taken into account. In taste, it is inferior to zander and perch, but fishermen consider it a valuable and successful trophy. In order to understand all the differences, you need to know some signs of both types.
What is the difference between bersh and zander? There are so many descriptions on this subject, but everywhere until now this question has been addressed, both on the pages of print media and on the Internet. It's time to learn the difference, some fishermen are now proudly showing their catch, calling zander bersh. Many people think that bersh and zander are one and the same fish.
This is not so, they are completely different, although they have much in common. The easiest way to distinguish them from each other is to check for fangs. It is recognized that zander is called fanged, because it has clearly distinguishable fangs; the bersh does not.
There are some other distinctive features: the bersh has a shorter and wider stigma than the pike-perch, larger scales, not bare cheeks and a little more eyes. In color, these fish are almost the same. The size of the zander is larger.
Bersh (fish): where is it?
The distribution of this fish is very limited, it is almost never found in large quantities. The main habitat is the Volga river basin, but even there it is not found everywhere. He does not like to go upstream, which is why he does not meet above Rybinsk.
However, it lives throughout the Sheksna River and in Beloozero. Bersh (fish), similar to zander, it is found in the Baku Bay area of the Caspian Sea. They say that it can be seen in the Ural River, but this is not accurate data.
Lifestyle
Volga pike perch prefers fresh water, where it leads a near-bottom lifestyle. In the clear sea does not go. In summer it lives in places in which it finds a lot of food: fry - closer to the shore, adults - at the depths of the riverbed. In winter, lives in deep bottom layers of water.
In the Volga reservoirs, fish is located at a shallow depth, where there is a slow flow of water and a sandy or rocky bottom. A silted bed with a depth of up to 40 meters is also suitable for her. It is very active in the morning and evening.
Diet
The diet of all fish depends on the characteristics of their habitat and age, this can also include such an inhabitant of the vast expanses of water as bersh. This fish, as scientists have proved, feeds on more than ten species of animals, the main food is bleak. The size of the necessary food depends on the predator itself. One that has a length of up to four centimeters, eats the larvae of dragonflies and chrysalis pupae. Older fish begin to eat nectobenthic crustaceans, crayfish and fish fry.
A 30 cm long bersh eats an individual up to eight centimeters long, and a large one up to 10 centimeters and more.
Breeding
Bersh begins to multiply only in the fourth year of life, at this time puberty sets in, and the body length reaches 20 or more centimeters. Spawning takes place in April – May, when the water temperature becomes more than ten degrees. For this, shallow places with sandbanks, the depth of which is up to two meters, are selected by fish. Here, the bersh builds its nest, covering it with rhizomes of aquatic plants. First, the female spawns, then the male protects the nest from predators.
The eggs are very small, painted yellow, their size in diameter does not exceed 0.84 millimeters. One female tosses about 250 thousand such eggs, fertility depends on the habitat. For example, bersh (fish) from the Kuibyshev reservoir spawns up to 472 thousand pieces.
Five days later, larvae hatch up to five millimeters in length. After hatching, they feed on the remnants of the gall sac for a week, after which they switch to external nutrition.
Bersh fishing
Volga pike perch has always been a welcome prey for an angler-athlete and an amateur. This fish is valuable in terms of gastronomy, it is distinguished by its delicious gourmet meat and finds its place in the menu of the best restaurants. Bersh - fish is not large, but always kept in whole schools. This contributes to fishing, makes it more fun and active. Never fish for it purposefully, only in rare cases.
It is very well caught in the spring, in the summer after spawning and in the fall, during the active zhor, both zander and bersh. The fish, which fishing is carried out similarly, pecks at any, the same for these types of bait. This is a fry, live bait, a frog, several worms, a piece of fat, silicone twisters are also suitable. Any tackle is used: float fishing rods, spinning rods, necklaces, donks. Sometimes they catch a track, jig and wobbler are effective for catching fish.
It is very difficult to catch Volga pike perch in winter, since it does not need food at this time. You have to look for him in deep holes and under snags. It is best to catch a winter fishing rod with an inertial coil, using worms, bloodworms and various kinds of larvae as nozzles. Some fishermen use mormyshka fishing, of which teardrop-shaped copper and white or luminous are best.
The fishing line should be 0.2 mm thick, the load should be chosen so that the current calmly demolishes the bait by thirty meters.