FWS Focus
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Overview
Characteristics
Overview
Adult crappieare foundinfreshwaterlakes,reservoirs,ponds, sloughs, backwaterspools,and streams. Crappie prefer cover, such as such as vegetation, fallen trees or boulders. They often formin largegroups, calledschools,in clear water among vegetation over mud or sand.
Scientific Name
Pomoxis nigromaculatus
Common Name
Black Crappie
Identification Numbers
Characteristics
Characteristic category
Life Cycle
Characteristics
Life Span
The oldest reported age for black crappie is 15 years however, a normal age is usually around 7 years.
Reproduction
In the spring during spawning season, male crappie begin building nests by clearing sand, mud or gravel from the water bottom in preparation for the egg laying females to arrive. Upon their arrival, female crappie may spawn with different males in more than one nest. Spawning involves the simultaneousrelease of eggs by the females and milt(sperm)by the males in the nests, whichwere previously preparedby the malesbefore the female crappiehadarrivedat the spawning habitat. After spawning, male crappie guard the nest for approximately 5 days or until the juvenilecrappiebegin to emerge from their eggs and begin to feed.
Characteristic category
Behavior
Characteristics
Behavior
Black crappie, up to 6.3 inches, feed on planktonic crustaceans and free swimming, nocturnal larvae. Larger individuals are basically piscivorous and feed primarily on small fish.
Characteristic category
Physical Characteristics
Characteristics
Size & Shape
The common length for black crappie is 10.8 inches and the maximum reported length for a black crappie is 19.3 inches.
Weight
The heaviest published weight for a black crappie is 6 pounds.
Color & Pattern
The easiest way to determine the difference between a black crappie and a white crappie is to count the number of spines in the dorsal fin. They also have seven to eight spines in their dorsal fin and white crappie have six. Black crappie have irregularly arranged speckles and blotches in their color pattern as opposed to the faint vertical bars of the white crappie.
Physical Characteristics
Black crappie often form schools and feed early in the morning. They inhabitquiet,warmtemperatewaters; usually associated with abundant aquatic vegetation and sandy to muddy bottoms. Black crappie may compete with walleye when found in the same habitat and because the feeding habits of these species are very similar.Larger individuals of the species arebasicallypiscivorous andfeed primarily on small ?sh.
Characteristic category
Habitat
Characteristics
Habitat
Black crappie are a freshwater species. They often form schools and feed early in the morning. Black crappie inhabitquiet,warmtemperatewaters; usually associated with abundant aquatic vegetation and sandy to muddy bottoms. These fishmay compete with walleye when found in the same habitat and because the feeding habits of these species are very similar.
The black crappie is a common host fish for freshwater mussels. Thecrappieprovides the mussel with a place to live (usuallyontheir gills) for the first part ofitslife.
Lake
Characteristic category
Food
Characteristics
Food
Black crappie often form schools and feed early in the morning. They inhabit quiet, warm temperate waters; usually associated with abundant aquatic vegetation and sandy to muddy bottoms. Black crappie may compete with walleye when found in the same habitat and because the feeding habits of these species are very similar. Larger individuals of the species are basically piscivorous and feed primarily on small fish.
Geography
Characteristics
Range
The native range for black crappie in North America extends from Virginia to Florida along the Atlantic coast and southwest along the Gulf of Mexico from the western panhandle ofFlorida across to Texas. Black crappie alsocan be foundwithin the St. Lawrence River, the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River basins.
