hybrid. In Europe, a second species (Lucioperca wolgensis) is limited to rivers in southern Russia and basin of Danube river.
It is a common and popular game fish in Europe: it is tasty and may reach 20 kilograms in size. Typical catches, however, are considerably smaller, and most fishers are very happy with 3–5 kg zanders. The zander is not indigenous to the UK, but was introduced into the East Anglian drains (large artificial rivers) in the 20th century, and spread rapidly.
Zander thrives in water with rather low visibility, whereas the pike often dominates the predator fish niche in clear water: pikes use their vision to find prey, while zanders "listen" to the water, and are very active at night. However, they need plenty of oxygen and soon disappear from eutrophic areas.
In 2004, it was revealed that some restaurants in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area of Minnesota in the United States were serving imported zander instead of the closely related North American walleye (the state fish, and a popular food in the region). While zander and walleye are almost indistinguishable by taste, the restaurants were selling the European fish under the name "walleye", which is considered an illegal practice. An investigation by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration followed.
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