How many different kinds of crappies are there?

[The Grebe]

A week or two ago, in the neighbors column of Fm, there was a picture of a guy holding 2 Crappies and the caption said one was a black crappie and one was a white crappie...in my opinion, they were both black crappies, one was just a little lighter in color.

Which leads me to my question, "how many different kinds of crappies do we actually have in Minnesota?" I've heard of White Crappie, Black Crappie, Calico Crappie, Strawberry Crappie and I guess that is about it, but, I have seen and caught all kinds of different variations, in color, in overall shape, and etability. I'm sure some are hybred, but does anyone know for
sure what types there are?

[Dynasty]

Only two types black and white.

They both look pretty similiar, but the main way to tell the difference is the spots. On white crappies the spots will be in vertical stripe patterns, while the spots on black crappies are more random.

As far as color most fish have varying color depending on the body of water.

[The Grebe]

Dynasty,

Are you just guessing, or do you know this to be fact? There are white crappies that are long and shaped like a bass, only thinner, they have big, soft, mouths and very light spots like a black crappie? Some have what looks like upside down pine tree configurations on them, and are much sturdier looking, others have vertical lines of spots, some are just about white, some are yellowish, some have purple in them, Minnetonka is a lake that has all of the above, Rush to. The crappies out of Pokegama are about as beautiful a crappie as you are ever going to see, but they don't look anything like your traditional black, or white crappie. I wonder what the DNR says? Not that they are always right either...for the longest time and maybe even yet, they say there are no cougars in Mn!

[Fisher Dave]

2 kinds of crappie ... white and black .. thats it.

Crappies can look very different from lake to lake due to water clarity, ph, etc... but there are only 2 types.

White are *barred* so to speak, blacks have no particular pattern to their spots. Sometimes a person can catch a black crappie that is almost grey(very little color), and then go to another lake and have them be jet black.. still the same fish.

Yes, I'm sure

[CrappieMagnet]

Dynasty is correct.

There are white and black crappies.

But you are also correct.

There are other names besides calico bass.They are also called crops,specks,papermouths,bachelor perch,and white perch.

The original range of Black crappies includes the eastern half of the United States,with the exception of New England.They have been introduced in many western states and even British Columbia.White crappies were originally found within a region extending from eastern South Dakota to New York,then south to Alabama and Texas.Now they have been introduced as far west as California.

Hope that answers some of your questions.

CM

[CrappieJohn]

Twas I holding those fish! They were both black crappies. In the lake where they were taken, we get some blacks that-no matter what the time of year- are almost white. They do not darken with the spawn. To show the difference in these fish, the picture was taken. They were both males and easily in the 12 inch bracket. Minnesota has only black and white crappies. Blacks are plate-shaped with random black spotting while the white variety resembles a striped bass in body shape and are much lighter(almost white) and the markings are vertical "bars or striping" as mentioned earlier. In the sunlight, whites are almost holographic, showing tinges of blues and purples on top of the other colors. The picture simply was taken to shown how much variation within the species there can be, but they were indeed black crappies.

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[DTro]

[jlm]

I also believe there is a difference in the number of spines in the dorsal fin. I can't remember how many but they typically differ on the number.

[Guest]

The photo of the crappies was I believe of Matt Johnson who also can explain them. He told me the difference but I forgot by the time we left W.W.

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[CrappieMagnet]

Black crappies have irregular,dark blotches or speckles on their sides and seven or eight dorsal fin spines.The distance from the eye to the dorsal fin is equal to the length of the dorsal fin base.

White crappies have five to ten vertical bands.Most have five or six dorsal fin spines,a few even have seven.The distance from the eye to the dorsal fin is greater than the length of the dorsal fin base.

This is how you tell the difference.

CM

[catchin'whopper]

geez, lots of help out there i guess.

how about only "eaters" and "noneaters?"

[Cyberfish]

to complicate matters , in some lakes that have both, they will cross breed. I have caught hybrids in Minnetonka.
There is also the black nosed crappie. I don't know if they exist in MN, but I have seen pics of them from the south, they look just like a black crappie, but have a black stripe on their back that extewnds to the tip of their lower jaw.

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[M.T. Bucket]

Cyberfish is correct about the hybrids. There are 2 species of crappies in North America:

White Crappie (Pomoxis annularis)
Black Crappie (Pomoxis nigromacularis)

There are no documented subspecies of either species, however there is quite a bit of information out there regarding natural and hatchery-produced hybrids between the 2 species.