What exactly is the perch egg ribbon?

One of the strangest structures in freshwater: the female extrudes her entire annual egg production as a single gelatinous, accordion-folded strand, up to 2 m (7 ft) long, while a procession of smaller males trails her and fertilizes it as it emerges. The ribbon gets draped over weeds or wood and left. The jelly matrix is the whole defense: swollen with water, unpalatable to most predators, and flexible enough to sway with waves instead of tearing, it shields the eggs for the one to three weeks (temperature depending) they take to hatch. If you see pale, folded ribbons on early-season weed edges, you are looking at the next year class.

Pour tout comprendre

Cette réponse fait partie d'une leçon complète — montages, schémas et explications.

Autres questions sur Fraie

Même sujet, autres espèces

Parcourir toutes les questions