positive ID question

[Hillbilly910]

was just curious if the dash in the eye of a black crappie is reccomendable ID method?
Not for me, but it does seem to be a fairly plain difference from a white crappie, and may help some determine which brand of fish they have caught.

HB

[GCD]

If you aint countin' dorsal spines... you aint doin' it right!

[rnvinc]

Countin the dorsal spines does seem to be the most effective and sure way to id...

[Nightprowler]

How do you count dorsal spines?

[satdoc1]

Read this and it may help:Black Crappie in Alabama

[satdoc1]

Or this one:The Black and White on Alabama's Crappie

[bugman]

They look so different i can't understand why anyone would need to count the spines.

[CrappiePappy]

They look so different i can't understand why anyone would need to count the spines.

You're right, Bugman .... but, there are times when the Male White Crappie is in his tuxedo (spawn colors) and "could" be misidentified as a "Black" Crappie. Informed people know how to tell one from the other ... but, less informed or the "misinformed" can get them mixed up :D --- I know, because I've been "correcting" people since the 1970's :p

It's like the idea that a Blacknose Crappie is a crossbreed (and I see people STILL saying that, on some online forums) .... you get "misinformed" and it takes a while to get the correct information out there.

... cp

[skiptomylu]

Not sure why it so hard for some to get that straight, but every year there are discussions about this. Very seldom I need count spines or anything. It's pretty much as easy as does his marks have a pattern or no? Are the stripes there or not and this is even if it's a light marked white crappie. If it's one of the white all dressed up in their tux, then the spine count should be easy enough.

Lets do this, here is a picture from one of my fast morning trips. Now there may be 2 White crappie on this board, but there is one that stands out as a white so which one is it?

http://thumpitjigs.com/images/1c.JPG

Oh and just so you know these were caught in shallow water, like maybe 2' and all at the same spot give or take maybe 20' wide area.

Skip

[PanMan_VA]

Not sure why it so hard for some to get that straight, but every year there are discussions about this. Very seldom I need count spines or anything. It's pretty much as easy as does his marks have a pattern or no? Are the stripes there or not and this is even if it's a light marked white crappie. If it's one of the white all dressed up in their tux, then the spine count should be easy enough.

Lets do this, here is a picture from one of my fast morning trips. Now there may be 2 White crappie on this board, but there is one that stands out as a white so which one is it?

http://thumpitjigs.com/images/1c.JPG

Oh and just so you know these were caught in shallow water, like maybe 2' and all at the same spot give or take maybe 20' wide area.

Skip

Bottom center and bottom right appear to be white crappie.