Phylum: Chordata - Class: Actinopterygii - Order: Perciformes - Family: Percidae
Ruffe are prickly little fish and are not much sought by anglers; they tend to feed on the bottom of canals and lakes and are not known for their sporting qualities. In Wales the natural distribution of this species is confined to the east, but they have been introduced into some waters (for example Llyn Bala) further west. They spawn between March and May.
There are several other common names for this relative of the Perch (Perca fluviatilis) including pope and 'daddy ruffe'. Its diet consists of insect larvae, small molluscs and fish eggs, and it takes typically five years to grow to a length of five inches. A ten inch fish would be a very large ruffe indeed.
Ruffe are unlikely to be confused with any other fish except possibly the perch; a distinguishing feature is the single dorsal fin of the ruffe compared with the two separated dorsal fins of the perch. Ruffe and perch have not been known to hybridise.
This page includes pictures kindly contributed by Dr Nick Giles.
Excited at the prospect of flyfishing? So are we, and we're pretty sure you would find the Winding River Mystery trilogy of action-packed thrillers gripping reading too. Dead Drift, Dead Cert, and Dead End are Pat O'Reilly's latest river-and-flyfishing based novels, and now they are available in ebook format. Full details on our website here...
Buy each book for just £4.96 on Amazon...
Please Help Us: If you have found this information interesting and useful, please consider helping to keep First Nature online by making a small donation towards the web hosting and internet costs.
Any donations over and above the essential running costs will help support the conservation work of Plantlife, the Rivers Trust and charitable botanic gardens - as do author royalties and publisher proceeds from books by Pat and Sue.