Sexing Crappies

I was just wondering how you tell a male crappie from a female crappie? I did some reading and found out about the black crappie and the white one...now is the black one the male and the white one female??

Black and white are two different fish not male and female I do know that. As far as sexing them I will respond again that I hope some of the experts here kick in with their great knowledge. But a crappie is a beautiful fish and I preffer the black one myself. Would be a nice addition to that 110 gallon tank. But as far as the compatibility I do not know. Sunfish are among my favorites to keep in captivity and have had at one time or another most all of them barring the dwarfs and middle sized ones. Somone else will get on here and let you in on the scientific termination on those but that is what they are to me. Hard to pick out a favorite but as far as temperment and looks I sway to the Warmouth. Sounds mean but in actuality I have found it to be a whimp in the tank with other sunnies and to be very pretty in it's own way.

Daniel

Daniel is correct that Black Crappie (Pomoxis nigromaculatus) and White Crappie (Pomoxis anularis) are two species not male an female. White crappie have verticle bars on their side and their dorsal and anal fins are set further back on their body and black have a more speckled pattern with the dorsal and anal fins set closer to the head. Males of both species are very dark in coloration during spawning and can look almost solid black at times. Females stay the same color pretty much year round. Here are a few pictures and I'm guessing at the sex of these based on time of year they were captured (all early spring) and the darker coloration on what appear to be males. Young or non-breeding crappie would be very difficult to sex to my knowledge although there may be a way to vent sex them.

Male Black
 black_crappie1_by_JZ.jpg   459.85KB   3 downloads

Female White
 White_Crappie_pymatumming_lake_2_by_AK.jpg   54.08KB   4 downloads

Male White
 White_Crappie_pymatumming_lake_by_AK.jpg   147.95KB   4 downloads

Hey smbass,
I was looking at your photo of the male white crappie. It first looked like a black to me. Knowing very well you know much more about this than I do lets say I believe you with doubts if that makes sense. I put it in photoshop and tried to bring some detail out and remove the glare. This is my best shot at doing that. Hope this helps others to see the detail and uh oh mmm hope you don't mind that I did it.

Daniel

No I don't mind, it is a bad picture. Anyways to try to eliminate your doubts... The Bars that I was refering too on whites can often be very disrupted especially with males showing the darkened fins and overall coloration during the spring breeding season. The real distinguishing feature is how far back the fins are on this fish compared to where they are on a black crappie. There is no doubt this is a white crappie.