White Crappie Research Articles

Seasonal Variation in the Incidence of Lymphocystis in the White Crappie from the Niangua Arm of the Lake of the Ozarks, Missouri

Seasonal variation in the incidence of diseases or parasites in natural populations of fishes has not been documented. Seasonal variation in the incidence of lymphocystis in the white crappie, Pomoxis annularis, was determined from 5,906 fish collected in 1950–1951 and 1,593 fish collected during October 1952 through 1955. The incidence of the disease was greatest in July (10.7 percent), decreased in October (1.7 percent) and increased in November (6.9 percent). Over winter the incidence of the disease gradually decreased and reached a low in April (1.4 percent) after which it increased again. The tumors occurred on all parts of the body and fins but over 60 percent on the caudal fin. The disease was more prevalent in fish under 6.7 inches than in larger ones. In 1950–1951, 97 percent of the infected fish were less than 6.7 inches long. The 1949 year class was abundant during this study and its members carried the disease for a period of 3 years. The disease does not appear to be lethal to the white crappie; however, infected fish weighed 3 to 5 percent less than sound fish of the same length. Only one other fish, a walleye, was found to be infected.

The Effect of Gizzard Shad on the Fish Population of a Small Oklahoma Lake

Abstract Estimates of the standing crop of fish in two small Oklahoma lakes were made by the short-period simultaneous mark-and-recovery method, employing wire traps. The lakes were similar in physical and chemical characteristics, and each contained bluegill, black and white crappie, redear sunfish, largemouth bass, warmouth, black bullhead, and Gambusia. The one lake which also contained gizzard shad, carp, and green sunfish was treated with rotenone to check the accuracy of the population estimate. The lake without gizzard shad had an estimated standing crop of 655 pounds per acre, 608 pounds of which was composed of desirable-sized fish. Recovery from the lake treated with rotenone indicated a standing crop of 1,043 pounds per acre but the weight of desirable-sized fish was 142 pounds per acre less than in the lake without shad. The faster growth, plumper condition, and greater average length of fishes in the lake without shad indicated that direct interspecific competition occurs between centrarchids...

Movement of Stream Fishes in Missouri

Abstract Eight hundred forty-six reports of tagged fish caught by anglers were analyzed to determine the movement patterns of 14 species of native warm-water stream fishes. Each species included a sedentary group which remained near the release point and a mobile group which ranged more or less freely. The species could be classified according to the relative abundance of the two groups. Rock bass, smallmouth bass, longear sunfish, spotted bass, and yellow bullhead were classified as sedentary species; carp, flathead catfish, largemouth bass, golden redhorse, and black redhorse are semi-mobile; and channel catfish, freshwater drum, and white crappie as mobile. The species varied greatly in the average number of days between tagging and recapture and in the direction of movement and distances traveled by the mobile fish. The mobile group usually was free longer than the sedentary fish but frequently the difference in time was not great. Mobile freshwater drum, golden redhorse, black redhorse, spotted bass,...

The Food and Growth of the White Crappie, Pomoxis annularis, in Pymatuning Lake, Pennsylvania and Ohio

The Food and Growth of the White Crappie, Pomoxis annularis, in Pymatuning Lake, Pennsylvania and Ohio

Studies on Monogenetic Trematodes. XV. Dactylogyridae from Alaska, Wisconsin, and Wyoming

The material treated herein was collected from Wisconsin and Wyoming by Dr. R. V. Bangham of Wooster College, Wooster, Ohio; and from Alaska by Dr. R. L. Rausch, U. S. Public Health Service, Anchorage, Alaska, to whom the authors are grateful. Available specimens up to a maximum of twenty were used in the treatment of each species. Only two Tetraonchinae namely, Tetraonchus varnabilis from the round white fishes Prosopium w. williamsoni and Prosopiu 1 cylindraceum quadrilaterale, and T. rauschi from the grayling, Thymallus signifer, are new. The host distribution of the remaining nine species is as follows: Cleidodiscus floridanus and C. pricei from the channel cat, Ictalurus 1. ldcustris; C. vancleavei from the white crappie, Pomoxis annularis; Murraytrema copulata from the rosyside sucker, Catostomus fecundus; Urocleidus chrysops and U. mimus from the white bass, Lepibema chrysops; Dactylogyrus bulbus and D. cornutus from the common shiner, Notropis cornutus frontalis; and D. extensus from the carp, Cyprinus carpio.

The Fishery in Lake Wappapello, A Flood-Control Reservoir on the St. Francis River, Missouri

Abstract Lake Wappapello, an impoundment on the St. Francis River in southeastern Missouri, was created in 1941 by the Corps of Engineers, U.S. Army, as part of the flood-control program for the lower Mississippi River. At conservation-pool level (355 feet, Mean Gulf Level) the reservoir has a surface area of approximately 6,000 acres and more than 50 percent of the lake is less than 5 feet deep. At times of high water the area may be expanded to 23,100 acres. Prompted by the decline in fishing success, particularly for black bass, the Missouri Conservation Commission launched a series of investigations in 1948. The results of 4 years of fish-population surveys made by means of nets, seines, and rotenone are presented. White crappie and carp consistently were the most abundant species in the nets. These fish constituted, respectively, 52 and 20 percent by number of the total net catch. Rotenone sampling in two small coves in 1951 indicated that the backwater areas support an average standing crop of 273 p...

A Northern Record of the White Crappie from Lake Huron, Ontario, Canada

A Northern Record of the White Crappie from Lake Huron, Ontario, Canada

Biology of the White Crappie in Illinois

The white crappie, Pomoxis annularis Rafinesque, and the black crappie, Pomoxis nigro-maculatus (Le Sueur), are among the most characteristic and abundant fishes of the lakes and streams of Illinois. They are popular with Illinois anglers and are generally ranked with the better food fishes of the state. Both species have been used extensively for stocking artificial lakes of various sizes. This paper is based largely on white crappie studies carried on by the writer at Lake Decatur, Macon County, Illinois, during the period beginning in late November, 1935, and ending in early December, 1939. Most of the fish for the Lake Decatur studies were caught in hoop nets that were operated at 1- to 2-month intervals at all seasons of the year.

Fish Harvesting on Two TVA Mainstream Reservoirs

Abstract From 1945 to 1950 a series of fish-tagging studies has been conducted on two TVA mainstream reservoirs to determine the extent to which the crop is being harvested. The fish taken in hoop nets and seines were tagged in the upper left jaw with a No. 3 Monel metal tag and released in the immediate vicinity of their original capture. Sportsmen cooperated in the studies from 1948 through 1950. TVA census takers, Sportsmen's Club members, and the anglers checked the catches and turned in the tags taken from the fish. White crappie and white bass are the major sport fish in these two reservoirs. Poor harvesting of the sport fish crop is indicated by the fact that out of 6,028 fish tagged on Wheeler Reservoir from 1945 to 1950, only 89 tags have been returned (1.5 percent). On Guntersville Reservoir during 1948 to 1950, 5,506 fish have been tagged with a total of 53 tags returned (1.0 percent). Mortality from tagging does not appear to be a factor in the low return of marked fish. In a separate mortalit...

Sampling Fish Populations in the Coosa River, Alabama

Abstract Fish populations were sampled in two quarter-mile sections of the Coosa River near Childersburg, Alabama, during July and August, 1949. Sampling was done with hoop nets, wire baskets, and rotenone. In addition, the catch of a permanent fish trap was observed. The selectivity and limitations of each of these sampling methods are discussed. Since the methods used were to an appreciable extent complementary, it was possible to obtain significant information on nearly all important species. The most important species (by weight) taken were channel catfish, freshwater drum, smallmouth buffalo, flathead catfish, blue catfish, redhorse, and gizzard shad. None of the methods used was adequate for the sampling of game and pan species. The most important of these encountered were, however, white crappie, spotted black bass, and bluegill sunfish. Each of the methods failed completely to reveal the presence of one or more important species of fish. Since all sampling methods were selective, it was impossible...

Fishery Management of Claytor Lake, an Impoundment on the New River in Virginia

Abstract Claytor Lake in Southwest Virginia, covering 4,495 acres of a mountainous section of Pulaski County, was formed by the construction of a dam in 1939. The lake is 21 miles long, has a maximum width of one-half mile, and a maximum normal pool elevation of 1,846 feet above sea level. During the period 1939–1946 the lake was stocked with 650,000 walleye fry, 74,854 young bluegills, 3,570 adult bluegills, 12,040 adult yellowbelly sunfish, 20,135 young largemouth bass, 10,813 adult largemouth bass, 3,000 young smallmouth bass, and 3,894 young white crappie. In spite of the heavy stocking, largemouth bass and yellowbelly sunfish failed to become important species in the lake. Until 1946 the impoundment was closed to walleye and bass fishing each year from December 31 to June 20. After 1946 all fishing was prohibited during the December 31 to June 20 period. The fishes of Claytor Lake exhibit slow growth for the first year but after the second year the growth rate is considered good. The bluegill is the ...

Fourteen Years Record of Fish Production from Meander Lake

Abstract Meander Lake is an artificial lake of 2,010 acres in which no angling is permitted, but from which the Ohio Division of Wildlife has removed fish by trap net annually. The lake was filled in February, 1932 and was stocked in 1932, 1934, and 1935, with a total of approximately 10,000 adult fish (about 200 largemouth bass, 1,100 bluegills, 850 bullheads, 1,700 gizzard shad, and 6,000 crappies) and in the spring of 1940, with 400 breeder white bass. Removal of fish by nets began in the fall of 1935. In 1938, nets were used both during the spring and fall and since 1939, only in the spring, prior to spawning. An average of 16 pounds of fish was removed from each acre annually. About 4 percent of these were largemouth bass, 5 percent bluegills, and 65 percent white crappies. Bass and bluegill removal averaged nearly 10 percent each of the total catch for the first 5 years, crappies increased rapidly to reach a peak in 1942. Since that year crappies have gradually decreased and in 1948, white bass cons...

Cytophaga Columnaris as a Cause of Fish Epidemics

An epidemic, resulting in the death of large numbers of white crappies (Pomoxis annularis) in McKay Reservoir near Pendleton, Oregon, was found to be due to infection with Cytophaga columnaris, a myxobacterium. Extensive lesions produced by this organism were present on the body and gills of dead and dying fish. Since other epidemics are known to have been produced by C. columnaris, it is suggested that during warm weather this organism may be a frequent cause of mortalities among fish in lakes and possibly in streams.

Annulus Formation in Scales of the Common Shiner, Notropis cornutus chrysocephalus (Rafinesque)

S INCE Hoffbauer (1898-1900) observed in the scales of the carp concentric rings which he supposed to be growth rings, the technique of determining the age of fishes by counting the annuli has been used extensively. Many complications arise, however. For example, Blair (1937) described a definite but rather difficult distinction between winter marks and spawning marks in salmon scales. Hansen (1936) has shown that the annulus of the white crappie scale does not form in the winter but in early summer. Such complications have led to uncertainty regarding the application of the age determination technique. A study of the interpretation of the scales in relation to life history is therefore necessary for each type fish before its age may be determined from scale markings. From this standpoint such a study was undertaken on the scales of Notropis cornutus chrysocephalus (Rafinesque). The author is grateful to Dr. John W. Price and Mr. E. N. Warner, both of the Department of Zoology and Entomology, Ohio State University, for advice and photographic work respectively. The Ohio Division of Conservation, through its representative, Mr. E. L. Wickliff, very kindly furnished the material and related data.

The Date of Annual Ring Formation in the Scales of the White Crappie

The Date of Annual Ring Formation in the Scales of the White Crappie

The Ability of Fresh-Water Fish to Extract Oxygen at Different Hydrogen-Ion Concentrations

Pruthi's observations on the stickleback at pH 3.1 have been confirmed for the stickleback as well as several other species of fresh-water fish. Pruthi's criticism of the work of Powers is invalid within the pH range to which the fish are acclimated. The initial oxygen has either no effect on the lethal oxygen or the effect is in the opposite direction from that suggested by Pruthi. Outside of the pH range normal to the species in question the lethal oxygen is dependent in a large measure on the initial oxygen. Several species of freshwater fish--largemouth blackbass, smallmouth blackbass, white crappie, yellow perch, rainbow trout, as well as the goldfish and green sunfish--have the ability to extract oxygen from the water at low oxygen tensions equally well over a fairly wide range of hydrogen-ion concentration. The bluegill has a somewhat narrower range of toleration. The two species of minnow--steel-colored and bluntnose--tolerate a markedly narrower range of difference in hydrogen-ion concentration as shown by the lethal oxygen. The ability of fish to extract oxygen from the water at low pressure depends more or less on the hydrogen-ion concentration of water. The results obtained in this investigation confirm the studies on pH tolerancemore » of fish previously published. These results also confirm the observations that in highly alkaline water fish require a higher concentration of oxygen to survive.« less