Thread: Differences of a White Crappie vs. Black Crappie (WHITE CRAPPIE)

White Crappie - Pomoxis annularis

Species overview: Today the white crappie is found throughout Pennsylvania. It has been widely introduced around the United States. Biologists believe it was native to the Mississippi and Great Lakes watersheds, but not originally in Atlantic Coast watersheds. In Pennsylvania, the white crappie is less common than its cousin, the black crappie, but it is found across the state. The white crappie has a tendency sometimes to overpopulate its home waters, resulting in stunted fish. The species name “annularis” means “having rings,” and probably refers to the bars on the side of the fish’s body.

Identification: White crappies are wide when viewed from the side, but very compressed when observed head-on. They are olive to bright-green on the back, and silvery, with greenish or yellow hints, on the sides. The sides have about eight to 10 vertical, dark, broken bars, and other mottling. Dark spots or dark wavy lines pattern the dorsal, anal and tail fins. Males during the breeding season become darker. The white crappie is the only member of the sunfish family that has five or six spines on its dorsal fin, and a corresponding five or six spines on its anal fin. Its usual size is six to 12 inches long, but fish of 15 inches and several pounds are not uncommon. The white crappie has a large mouth, but the membrane behind the lips is thin and tears easily. This gives the fish its nickname, “papermouth.”

Habitat: White crappies live in lakes, ponds and sluggish sections of streams and rivers. They tolerate, and seem to prefer, silted, turbid conditions. The fish isn’t a bottom-dweller, but it does like cover, such as submerged brush, logs, stumps and tree roots. It doesn’t need the cooler, clear waters with hard, clean bottoms that black crappies prefer, and it doesn’t associate with underwater vegetation as much as the black crappie.

Life history: The white crappie spawns in late spring and early summer, May to June, when water temperatures are a little under 60 to a little over 70 degrees. The nests are about a foot in diameter and are located in water deeper than the nests of most other sunfishes, up to eight or 10 feet. White crappie nests may be solitary or in colonies of as many as 50, located two to four feet apart. The male white crappie comes to the breeding grounds first, where he constructs a nest by fanning his fins over plant roots and submerged brush, or over gravel and small stones. When white crappies live in streams and rivers, they spawn in protected areas, such as coves or slow, deep pools. Females produce from 10,000 to as many as 160,000 eggs, depending on their age and size. They spawn in the nests of several males throughout the breeding season. Hatching takes two to five days, depending on the water temperature. The male guards the nest until the fry disperse. Young white crappies eat small aquatic insects and zooplankton.

White crappie populations can fluctuate. During a good year, when spawning and food conditions are right, many white crappies survive. This brood dominates the population for several years until the spawn of another good year can survive and become the next dominant year-class. Then the pattern repeats. This explains why anglers catch large crappies for several years and then almost none or only small fish.

White crappies eat crayfish, leeches, crustaceans, insects and, most especially, small fish. Fish are the largest part of its diet. Because it is so prolific, white crappie populations may sometimes become overcrowded and outstrip their food supply, causing slow-growing, small individuals. Although the crappie’s mouth opens wide for prey, it is caught best on small minnows, lures and jigs, and it can be taken on streamers and weighted nymphs, fished like jigs.