Zander

• It is the largest percid in Europe.
• The reflective layer in its retina gives it exceptional vision in murky water and at night.
• A large female can lay more than a million eggs in a single spawning.

Skeleton type

Vertebrate - internal bony skeleton (fish)

Habitat & environment

Lakes, reservoirs and slow-flowing rivers of Europe and Asia, in temperate water of 6-22°C and down to 30 m

Birth weight

A tiny egg; a larva a few millimetres long on hatching

Size at birth

A larva a few millimetres long on hatching

Sexual maturity

Male: 1-2 years (26-37 cm) | Female: 1.5-3 years (26-46 cm)

Gestation / incubation

Roughly 2 weeks, depending on water temperature

Litter / clutch size

Tens of thousands to over a million eggs per clutch, depending on the female's size

Sources consulted: FishBase; ResearchGate (Portuguese river basins study); USGS NAS Species Profile; FWS Ecological Risk Screening; Animalia.bio; FFDB fair-fish database; AquaHoy

Best time: From April to May, during spawning, when the male builds and guards the nest; the rest of the year it is most active at dawn and dusk.