The life span is 10 years in wild, and 16 in captivity.
Geographical Location- It is found in Eastern North American. Could be found in lakes and freshwater ponds. Also have been found their way to Europe,Asia and South America.
Characteristics-Can be green or gray-brown with brown spots. Its coloration depends on location. Hind limbs are long and powerful. They spend most of their life in water or near water.
Behavior- They prefers warm weather and will hibernate during cold weather. They will bury itself in mud and construct a small cave for winter. They are active during the day and night, but mostly active when warm.
structure- They grow up to 8 inches or more, and weigh up to 1.5 pounds 6.75.
Food Capture- They are carnivores. They eat insects, mice, fish, birds, and snakes. They sit quietly and wait for the prey to pass by, and then lunge with their powerful hind legs with their mouth wide open. Sometimes they eat their own tadpoles. The food moves down to the stomach and it breaks down food. They are preyed upon by fish and turtles.
Thermoregulation/homeostasis- They can't control their temp internally. They maintain their temperature by behavior. They maintain homeostasis through their skin that absorbs nutrients and minerals from the water.
Reproduction- Only breed once each year. They reach maturity at 3-5 years. Frogs begin breeding late in spring or early in the summer. Fertilization is external(females deposit up to 20000 eggs). They eggs take 3-5 days to hatch. The tadpoles stay tadpoles for about 3 years before transforming into frogs.
Major organs:
Respiratory organs- trachea and lungs. The windpipe allows the passage of air down to the lungs.
Circulatory organs- heart, blood vessels and spleen. The heart has 3 chambers. The spleen stores and recycles old red blood cells.
Digestive organs- esophagus, stomach, large intestine, small intestine, pancreas, liver, gall bladder and cloaca.
Urinary organs- kidney, and ureter bladder.
The immune system- They are immune to amphibian fungus.
Gas Exchange-
Lungs- The lungs take in air through nostrils and down into lungs.
Nostrils-The nostrils lowers floor of mouth, and the throat expands. Then the nostrils open allowing air to enter the mouth.
Circulation- They have pulmonary circulation(blood pumped to heart then to lungs then back to heart). Also systemic circulation(blood pumped from the heart to the rest of the body and back again.
The heart has 2 atria and one ventricle.
Perch
Facts- Perch's are spiny-finned freshwater food fish. They live in the north temperate. They are golden yellow, and have short lifespan(8-12 years). Adult perch's usually are 10-25.5 cm long. Females are larger than males. Their diet consists of invertebrates, fish eggs, crayfish, mysid shrimp and young fish. You can tell the age of a perch by the number of lines on a scale.
Types- There are yellow and white perch's. These two types are the most common types, but there are more types.
Food capture-They can bite their prey, or their gill rakers strain out small pelagic food sources from the water. Their mouth is sub terminal, which makes it easy for them to feed at the bottom.
Behavior-They swallow food whole. They travel in schools(50-200), where fish are arranged by size, gender, and age. They are poor swimmers(don't accelerate quickly). Easier prey capture for older fish schools.
Food Digestion- Organs:
Pylorus- stomach and small intestine. They regulates the passage of partly digested food( stomach to intestine).
Pyloric ceca-3 short sacs. The passage of food is delayed.
Further digestion-lower part of the small intestine. This is where the nutritional part of food is absorbed, and is carried to all parts of body.
Gas Exchange- The gill rakers act as filtering devices that prevent debris from passing over the delicate filaments. Gill is composed of gill filaments. The exchange of gases is from water to gills, and files to water takes place by simple diffusion. Carbon dioxide comes from the water. The filament and oxygen enters the gill filament from the water.
Behavior-They may survive a short time out of water because they cannot use the oxygen in air to breathe( obtain by diffusion from the water).
Circulation- closed,
Heart: 2 chambers, one auricle and ventricle. Deoxygenated blood from all over the body collects in the auricle and passes to the ventricle through a valve.
Ventricle contracts and forces the blood to gill region to oxygenated. Blood collects in the auricle once again and cycle repeats.
Major structure- gas gland of swim bladder, oval body of swim bladder, and spleen.
Immune system-The slime that covers fish's body helps keep out fungus diseases. An environmental contaminant used in the manufacturing of poly carbonate plastics and epoxy resins has been found to harm the immune system of the yellow perch.
Homeostasis/thermoregulation- They have an ectotherm(body temp changes with environment). It moves to different waters based on temperature.
Reproduction-They spawn in spring(April-May) when water reaches temp of 45-52 degrees. The female at that time laying strings of eggs in the shallows among water plants, branches and the like. Female yellow perch mature at ages two to four. Males usually mature one year earlier.
Movement-The use their tail fin to move sided to side. They use their dorsal and anal fins to keep itself upright. Its pectoral and pelvic fins help balance. The air bladder helps raise/lower itself(contracts and expands). When the bladder expands it moves up, and when it is compressed it moves down.
Behavior-If the temperature increases, they all move to cooler, deeper water. They move from deep water where they live during the winter to shallow water for spawning areas in the spring.
Geographic location-They live in the north temperate, west central Canada, to Hudson bay, to east to new Brunswick, to down to south Carolina, and west, to Kansas. They are usually found in water of Ontario and northern part of the United States.
Inhabit quiet ponds, lakes, streams, and rivers. They avoid cold deep water and warm surface waters during the summer. Young perch usually stay in shallower water more than other ones.