Coffey Crappie and Zebra Mussels

Last couple of trips yielded some very nice 13.5 -15" crappie. The crappie actually looked thicker that they have over the past few years, so maybe they are finding more forage. Couldn't find many numbers, they were isolated.
Crappie had empty stomachs except for what appeared to be some very small (1/8" long at most), fuzzy, antennaed invertebrates.

We landed a bunch of blues and I can definitively attest to the fact they do eat Z-Mussels. A 22" blue had 2/3rds of a cupful in it's gut. It was obvious they do not "dissolve" inside the fish making some painful poo for the fish :yikes.



The gatehouse folks had a stick laying on the counter covered w/ Z-mussels. The stick itself was about 5/8" diameter, but had several layers of Z's on especially on one end of the stick. A full 2 days after retrieval from the water, the Z's were still moving (opening/closing) laying on the counter.

Attachment 168112Attachment 168113Attachment 168114

Out here right now. Struggling to find crappie but smallmouth and pumpkinseeds are everywhere.

Above the ramp mostly in 16 FOW

I thought these ere crappie holding near a school of baitfish, but I couldn't get bit
http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f2...ps9dd8bbbb.png

Fish adapt to eating whole mussels. Blues in lakes with large freshwater mussel beds and drum in the great lakes that eat lots of mussels have enlarged anal vents to help pass the shells. If it bothered them too bad I'm guessing they'd stop eating them anyways :)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by bluebasser86

Fish adapt to eating whole mussels. Blues in lakes with large freshwater mussel beds and drum in the great lakes that eat lots of mussels have enlarged anal vents to help pass the shells. If it bothered them too bad I'm guessing they'd stop eating them anyways :)

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I'm with you on that one. I'm pretty sure the soft tissue would digest first, the exoskeletons of mollusks and snails is also a much tougher living tissue which would digest much slower. A soft squeeze around the interior "vent" would confirm digestion. They feed chickens oyster shells for egg production and pheasants don't survive in areas with poor lime contents in soils. Redears eat mussels like we do sunflower seeds. Lime (limestone) is very critical for creatures, ex: bones and shells. How powerful is lime? It's makes concrete hard, it is also the key ingredient in soil cements. Glen Elders dam and flood dykes are prime examples of soil cement. It's a heavy clay loam with added lime and laid down similar to asphalt, upon curing it's basically concrete, pretty cool IMO.

I thought about this one a little more. I do know once into the pylorus it's out through as excrement. However, if digestion becomes to slow or cumbersome they probably regurgitate the shells similar to a cat with hairballs.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by bluebasser86

Fish adapt to eating whole mussels. Blues in lakes with large freshwater mussel beds and drum in the great lakes that eat lots of mussels have enlarged anal vents to help pass the shells. If it bothered them too bad I'm guessing they'd stop eating them anyways :)

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Same thing happens to me when I eat Taco Bell. At least it feels that way.

Lol

Wonder if you ran the Z's thru a crusher/grinder if they could be made useful?