54 Fish and Game Warden. [Bull. No. 1. 



The Crappies. 



A NATIVE KANSAS FISH. 



The Crappie is a native Kansas fish. As early as 1867, '68, 

 '69 and '70, the writer caught strings of them in the Wakarusa 

 river and its tributaries. In 1871 and '72 he took them in Mill 

 creek. Mission creek, the Marais des Cygnes, Dragoon and One 

 Hundred Ten Mile creek. In 1873 he caught them in all the 

 larger streams between Topeka and Wichita, including the 

 Neosho, the Cottonwood and the Walnut. So it is fair to pre- 

 sume that when the country was first settled the crappies were 

 well distributed in all the waters of the state where conditions 

 were favorable for their living. 



TWO SPECIES OF CRAPPIES. 



There are two species or kinds of crappie; however, they 

 are very near cousins and are so much alike and have so many 

 things in common that it is difficult for one to distinguish them 

 unless a special study of the two kinds has been made. Both 

 varieties usually go by the name of crappie, or "croppie." 

 They have several common names, depending for the most 

 part upon the locality in which they are found. Much of the 

 literature that has been published referring to these fish does 

 not designate the particular variety. 



THE WHITE CRAPPIE. 



The White or River crappie (Pomoxis annularis) is also 

 known as the common or Large-mouthed crappie, and is some- 

 times called the Southern crappie. It grows to a length of 

 from twelve to fourteen inches and attains a weight of from 

 one to one and one-half pounds, and very rarely exceeds this 

 weight in Kansas. Of late years I have not seen any very 

 large specimens of this species — none to exceed one and three- 

 quarters pounds in weight. 



COLOR OF WHITE CRAPPIE. 



The general ground color of the body of this species of 

 crappie is a silvery white fiecked with small blotches of dark 

 or olive green. The dark green mottling is to be found chiefly 

 on the upper half of the body, and in some specimens shows 

 a tendency to arrange itself in the form of narrow vertical 

 bands, ordinarily from seven to ten in number, showing in 

 some specimens taken in states east of Kansas quite dis- 

 tinctly. This banded condition is not very apparent in Kansas 

 specimens, and unless the fish are examined when taken from 

 the water may not be noticed at all. 



