Strange question: Crappies with eggs

[fisherman-andy]

I had entirely forgot about it. But last fall I think around mid August or so I caught a few Crappies that I had kept for dinner and found out they still had eggs in them. I was like?

I am not sure of the reason for this? Maybe because the conditions was never right and those fish never spawned? Or were they just late late spawners? And why haven't they dropped the eggs if they weren't spawning?

[andrew chadwick]

I catch crappies year long with eggs in them. this is why I usualy dont keep the big ones over 11 inches

[slipperybob]

hmmmm...??? lack of male crappies????

[Bobb-o]

Most fish, if the conditions do not present themselves for a spawn will just absorb the eggs back into their bodies and use them for energy. But almost immediately after they spawn their bodies begin working on next years spawn.

[Flamefox]

i had that same ??? also but sometimes they can spawn late in the yr as 2 times a yr if the water is right, that why my walleye i caught last stepember of 06 that was 31" long was flabby loose belly she just spawned out only days before, not all the fish will spawn right away thou. sometime also they will eat the spawn as a food souce if nones around.

[united jigsticker]

The population of male Crappies has nothing to do with the residual eggs that a female holds.

Also, spawning "twice" just doesn't happen in Minnesota just like a woman can not have two biological children that are 7 months apart in age.

Also, a fish being in shallow water doesn't mean it is spawning. Water temperature affects a specific species spawning more then any single other element.

And I doubt that the Walleye had a loose belly in September from "spawning out" days before....She probably just took a big turd when you were reeeling it in.

[Cyberfish]

On most lakes they havn't spawned yet, panfish spawn much later than walleyes and pike.

[slipperybob]

Okay for any fish biologists out there...

Panfishes usually builds nest and it's the males that do it. If there's a lack of nests, does more than one female deposit her eggs? What about the females who don't like any of the nests built by the males?

[Scott M]

Dr. Dave Willis at SDSU says females will deposit their eggs in more than one nest (competitive advantage, hedging her bets, etc.) and females will find the best nest they can find (so it's a best of the worst situation in rare instances).

To the original question, the final stage in egg development is a rush of hormones that quickly (in a matter of a day or two) prepare the eggs for fertilization and maturation. Females can be on the cusp of that hormone release for months at a time. It is not well understood what triggers the hormonal release, but many times you will see those eggs in fish for as much as 75% of the calendar year