Hybrid Crappie?

[bugman]

Jerry i caught one last winter that is a twin to yours it was 15 and a half inches and weighed 2-2 ounces, it had markings like yours and i have always thought it was a hybrid.it also had 6 dorsal spines.

[Jerry Blake]

I Googled Up "Hybrid Crappie" and found quite a bit of info on the web. Most of it way too technical for me but basically learned that crappie do hybridize naturally and it is difficult to accurately distinguish hybrids from white or black crappie.

This fish definitely was not typical of either our white or black crappie and I'm pretty sure it was a hybrid.

Hybrid Crappie came up in several state fishing regulations where they included Hybrid Crappie along with White Crappie and Black Crappie in creel limits.

[crappieseeker]

Just to throw this out there for some opinions and responses that I'm sure will come from it. What is your thought on the possibility that something may have caused the one less dorsal fin? Something like maybe a birth defect or some other factor not relating to being hybrid. I mean look at all the different deformalities in humans. I think maybe that fish "Crappie" could be either black or white and just have some stunted growth problems and like where humans might be missing a limb, the fish might be missing a spine on its fin or something. I may be crazy, but I think this could be a good possibility with everything that they say that is in some of our waters. These chemicals and things could cause minor defects kind of like what drugs and alcohol do to humans. Thats just my 2 cents worth.

[Kokanee King]

From what I Have learned from resurch is that there is the comon species that we all know the white and the black and when they nest together we get the common hybrid, but there is anouther naturally occuring hybrid in a lake (which i Can't remember the name of) that has been stocked in the central united states which is called A Black nose crappie it look as though someone had taken a felt marker from its nose up to its dorsal.

[Kokanee King]

But i could be wrong It is just what i have picked up along the way.

[Jason Piper]

Jerry, I have caught some Crappie up here that have had faint vertical stripes like a White Crappie and also the black spots like a Black Crappie over them. I will take a close up picture of the next one I get.
Also can you tell me why some of the Black Crappie have a black stripe up there nose and down there back?

[Jerry Blake]

Hey Jason:

Those Black Crappie with the "Racing Stripe" are Arkansas Blacknose Crappie. They are not hybrids but Black Crappie with a genetic marker.

They were original found in the wild in the White River basin here in Arkansas and have been used extensively for stocking, here and in other state, primarily so that when fish surveys are done it is easy to distinguish between stocked and native fish.

They do reproduce as Black Nose Crappie if they spawn with another Black Nose but if they spawn with a regular Black Crappie then the stripe may or may not show up in the offspring. If they spawn with a White Crappie then the offspring will be hybrids.

Enter "Black Nose Crappie" or "Arkansas Black Nose Crappie" in Google- http://www.google.com/ - or any other search engine and you will find a lot of info on them.

[Jason Piper]

Hey Jason:

Those Black Crappie with the "Racing Stripe" are Arkansas Blacknose Crappie. They are not hybrids but Black Crappie with a genetic marker.

They were original found in the wild in the White River basin here in Arkansas and have been used extensively for stocking, here and in other state, primarily so that when fish surveys are done it is easy to distinguish between stocked and native fish.

They do reproduce as Black Nose Crappie if they spawn with another Black Nose but if they spawn with a regular Black Crappie then the stripe may or may not show up in the offspring. If they spawn with a White Crappie then the offspring will be hybrids.

Enter "Black Nose Crappie" or "Arkansas Black Nose Crappie" in Google- http://www.google.com/ - or any other search engine and you will find a lot of info on them.

Thank you Jerry! I have always wondered about that!

[FalconSmitty]

looks like an Alabama black crappie to me. I think crappie have produced a hybrid in most lakes that both are present. We don't have the blacknose here. I don't think we do anyway.

[FalconSmitty]

white crappie