What is a crappie with......

[Jerry Blake]

a black stripe up its nose, a dark spot on its gill plate, fuzzy splotches in barely noticeable vertical bar patterns on its sides and six dorsal spines?

I think it's an Arkansas Blacknose Hybrid - a cross between a Blacknose Crappie and a White Crappie.

The Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Parks has intentionally crossed male Blacknose Crappie with female White Crappie to produce what they refer to as a "Magnolia Crappie". Also, some fish farms have been attempting to produce sterile hybrid crappie with some success. The advantage of using Blacknose Crappie over regular Black Crappie when attempting to produce hybrids is that it's easier to confirm that the off-spring are hybrids. And it's possible for crappie to hybridize in the wild as well.

We've been seeing quite a few Hybrid Crappie this year but I've only noticed a couple Blacknose Hybrids.

Here's one we caught today:

Here's a comparison of a Black Crappie, a Hybrid Crappie and a White Crappie from a trip last week:

As near as I can tell they all taste the same!

[Bronson]

I've always just called them black-nosed crappie. Good fighters & good eaters. Jimmy Holt on Tennessee Outdoorsman TV show on channel 8 (PBS) brought them to my attention in 80's. Shame they let that show get taken off the air. Had some good segments with local fishermen.

[KDAVID1]

Here's mine from Sunday

[BigMack]

We say those are the ones Ernest Paty marks and throws back.
Yeah, they do look funny when your not expecting to see one.
I haven't caught one in quite a while down here.

[jlwilkens]

The blackstriped crappie, sometimes called blacknose crappie, has a dark stripe from the dorsal fin down the top of the head and mouth to the throat. This is a unique color variation making up a small percentage of black crappies in some Mississippi lakes such as Grenada and Sardis Lake. Some anglers claim that this fish is a better fighter than the white crappie. As previously mentioned they all taste great with or without a stripe!

[jlwilkens]

I produce the Magnolia crappie at the North MS Fish Hatchery, Enid, MS (owned/operated by MDWFP). This is a sterile crappie designed for stocking into small impoundments where normal crappie would quickly overpopulate and ruin quality fishing. The Magnolia crappie is a cross between a female white crappie and male blackstriped black crappie. A high percentage of the hybrid offspring retain this blackstripe making it easy for biologists to monitor stocked populations and unique for anglers to catch. These fish may display both white and black crappie charateristics. This crappie is typically stocked into state lakes or state park lakes.

[jlwilkens]

There are two kinds of crappie; the white and black crappie. They are found together in most lakes and streams across Mississippi. Many anglers cannot tell them apart. Both crappies have a compressed body, but the black crappie has black blotches along the side, while the white crappie has black vertical stripes.

The white crappie has 5-6 dorsal spines while the black crappie has 7-8. During spawning the males of both species display deep black coloration and are hard to tell apart. The females remain the same color but have a much fuller and rounder belly than the males. White crappie generally grow to larger sizes than black crappie.

[KDAVID1]

I produce the Magnolia crappie at the North MS Fish Hatchery, Enid, MS (owned/operated by MDWFP). This is a sterile crappie designed for stocking into small impoundments where normal crappie would quickly overpopulate and ruin quality fishing. The Magnolia crappie is a cross between a female white crappie and male blackstriped black crappie. A high percentage of the hybrid offspring retain this blackstripe making it easy for biologists to monitor stocked populations and unique for anglers to catch. These fish may display both white and black crappie charateristics. This crappie is typically stocked into state lakes or state park lakes.

The one I pictured was caught on Sardis.

[Jerry Blake]

Would you agree that a crappie with a black stripe and only 6-dorsal spines is most likely a hybrid cross between a white crappie and a blacknose/blackstripe black crappie?

Have y'all perfected your sterilization process to achieve 100% sterilization yet?

I produce the Magnolia crappie at the North MS Fish Hatchery, Enid, MS (owned/operated by MDWFP). This is a sterile crappie designed for stocking into small impoundments where normal crappie would quickly overpopulate and ruin quality fishing. The Magnolia crappie is a cross between a female white crappie and male blackstriped black crappie. A high percentage of the hybrid offspring retain this blackstripe making it easy for biologists to monitor stocked populations and unique for anglers to catch. These fish may display both white and black crappie charateristics. This crappie is typically stocked into state lakes or state park lakes.

[jlwilkens]

That is going to be a blackstripe black crappie.

The one I pictured was caught on Sardis.