Is this a white or black crappie?

[perchpirate97]

Went fishing today and caught a mess of crappies. All were obvious black crappies, except this one threw me for a loop. The patterns were similar to a black, but the head/gill plate looked like a white crappie. Just curious because I took my first ever white crappie to the taxidermist last week (12.5") and this one is plenty bigger. Thoughts?

[rgfixit]

White.

Here's a side by side from my home waters.

The white has the vertical striped pattern.
RG

[Gamma Fish]

White......................in post spawn colors

[Raquettedacker]

  White Crappie.

 The dorsal fin on a white crappie has a maximum of six spines....


    Black Crappie..

  The dorsal fin on a black crappie has seven or more spines....

[Simplecarppieguy]

White For Sure!!

[H.T.]

Gamma says its a white crappie then its white. He knows it all man and he is NEVER wrong.

[ICE ADDICT]

A whitey it IS!

Pomoxis Nigromaculatus = Black Crappie

Pomoxis Whitegromaculatus = White Crappie....

[trapper2000]

darn it ...i wanna fight with  gamma  ...but this time  he's right !  that sure looks  like a white  crappie to me

[timdog]

Male White crappie

[RalifC]

OK,  educate me a little, How do you tell the difference between a Male and Female???

[Gamma Fish]

Gamma says its a white crappie then its white. He knows it all man and he is NEVER wrong.

Glad to see you've finally come to terms with that 

OK,  educate me a little, How do you tell the difference between a Male and Female???

Male crappies of both species turn very dark once their nests have been built.  They will normally stay dark until weeks after they leave the nests and return to deep water.   The pigment changes in their color is to fend off other predators who try to sweep in and devour their fry.   (usually bluegills, sunfish, perch, shiners, chubs etc)    All inland warm water predators are dark colored (Pike, Bass, Walleyes, etc) to help them blend in with their surroundings while waiting for the ambush.     The crappies turn black to replicate this scenario.   Dark colored fish means danger to other species and they tend to move away when they're present.
   Even the female crappies will turn darker when they move in to drop their eggs but not nearly as dark as the males who stay on the nest to protect the fry long after the females are done.
  The coloration is different in every body of water.  Some just get a black mottled look and other crappies look like they've been spray painted black.

 

[roadkill128]

gamma as usual you are a font of knowledge,

[H.T.]

Ya he might not have all the right answers but he is never wrong 

[roadkill128]

HT is palermo even near the water? lol

[Gamma Fish]

HT is palermo even near the water? lol

Palermo Sicily is right on the water but Palermo NY is the Las Vegas for people with no teeth !!