posted April 25, 2006 06:20 PM         

Now, it can claim a new and puzzling scientific oddity, one sure to be the buzz at bait shops: the blue perch.

Since December, Minnesota ice anglers have landed at least four yellow perch, a common panfish species, that aren't yellow at all. These are bright blue with an iridescent glow. Startled anglers who have caught the mysterious fish have been sent scrambling to the Internet or the Department of Natural Resources for answers.

The trail eventually leads them to Dr. Wayne Schaefer, a University of Wisconsin-Washington County professor who has been studying blue-hued walleyes in a remote region of Canada since 2000.

Until this winter, Schaefer hadn't heard of blue perch in Minnesota. But he believes they share the same color variation as the Ontario blue walleyes. The blue perch are likely albino for yellow pigment — the key color element in their skin — and they have skin mucus containing a newly discovered blue protein.