Gymnocephalus is a genus of ray-finned fishes from the family Percidae, which includes the perches, pike-perches and darters. They are from the Western Palearctic area, although one species, Gymnocephalus cernua has been accidentally introduced to the Great Lakes region where it is regarded as an invasive species. They have the common name ruffe and resemble the true perches in the genus Perca, but are usually smaller and have a different pattern. The species within the genus Gymnocephalus have a number of characters in common including that their dorsal fins are not completely separate, they have enlarged canals extending from the lateral line on their heads, the preorbital bone covers the maxillary bone, presence of setiform or bristle-like teeth, having very few or no vomerine and palatine teeth and the possession of three paired bones in the neck, known as extrascapulars, in their lateral line system, of which, two are simple tubes. There are currently five recognized species in this genus.
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