Black Crappie

🗺️ Habitat

Clear to slightly turbid lakes, reservoirs, rivers, and large ponds. Often found around brush piles, submerged timber, docks, and bridge pilings.

🔍 How to Identify Black Crappie

• 1Scattered, irregular black spots on silver-green body (not arranged in rows like white crappie)
• 2Deep, compressed body with large dorsal and anal fins
• 37–8 dorsal spines (white crappie has only 5–6)
• 4Large mouth (for a panfish) angled upward
• 5Pale or white belly with some spotting

🍽️ Diet

Small fish, insects, zooplankton, and crustaceans

💡 Fun Facts About Black Crappie

• ★Crappie are considered some of the best-tasting freshwater fish in North America
• ★They are gregarious fish that school in large numbers — finding one usually means finding many
• ★Crappie fishing is most productive at night, especially around lights that attract insects and small baitfish
• ★They are filter feeders as juveniles, consuming zooplankton
• ★"Crappie" comes from the Canadian French word "crapet," which referred to various sunfish

🛡️ Conservation Status

Least Concern — abundant

🔗 Related Species