Percidae is a family of fishes of the order Perciformes. The body is covered with ctenoid scales. The pelvic fins are located below or slightly behind the pectoral fins. Dorsal fins are two or one. The edges of the gill cover are serrated or equipped with spines. There are about 12 genera (ruffs, perch, pikeperch, etc.), more than 150 species. Inhabit brackish and fresh waters of the northern hemisphere. The best known are Perca fluviatilis - freshwater fish, up to 50 cm long, has local commercial importance; Sander lucioperca, a freshwater or brackish-water predator reaching 130 cm and weighing 16 kg, which is the object of fishing and acclimatization, and Gymnocephalus cernuus, a freshwater inhabitant of northern and central Europe and Asia, up to 22 cm in length, mostly a stiff-bodied, weedy fish, a food competitor of many valuable commercial fishes, which, with few exceptions, has no commercial importance.

They live in fresh and brackish water bodies of the northern hemisphere. The most common genus is perch, which lives in North America, Europe, and northern Asia. They are followed by the genera of pikeperch (North America and Europe) and ruff (Europe, northern Asia). Chops, podkamenchik perch and percarinae are found only in the basins of the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov.

The dorsal fin of Percidae consists of two parts: spiny anteriorly and soft posteriorly. In some species these parts are joined, in some species they are separate. The anal fin contains 1-3 barbs. On the jaws bristle-like teeth, among which in some species sit fangs. Scales ctenoid.