Black Crappie

The black crappie is a compressed, deep-bodied fish with a small head and relatively large mouth. Its sides are silver with black speckles and blotches. The black crappie can be distinguished from white crappie by the number of dorsal spines: black crappie have seven to eight, while the white crappie have five to six. Black crappie spawn when water temperatures are 64℉ to 68℉. Young black crappie feed on planktonic algae, zooplankton and small insects. Adults feed primarily on fish and aquatic insects. Black crappie will not eat floating fish feed. Black crappie and largemouth bass diets are very similar, leading to competition food limited food resources. Additionally, both white and black crappie are prone to inconsistent, but sometimes extremely large, numbers of young. This makes it very difficult to keep crappie populations balanced with other species. Black crappie tend to be somewhat less prolific and unpredictable than white crappie. This make the black crappie a better option for pond stocking.