The black crappie (pronounced croppy), Promoxis nigromaculatus, is a popular freshwater angling fish from the family Centrarchidae (sunfish), native to a central eastern strip of North America between the Appalachians and Minnesota, as far north as Ontario and south to the Gulf of Mexico. Its current range now extends throughout the lower 48 states and Canada, and into Mexico and Panama, as it has been widely introduced for sport-fishing purposes. Morphologically very similar to its close relative the white crappie (P. ammularis), with which it shares a range, these two species can be distinguished by their numbers of dorsal spines; black crappies have 7 or 8 whereas white crappies have 5 or 6. Hardy nocturnal carnivores, black crappies live in many types of waterways (ponds, lakes, creeks and rivers, consistently preferring clearer waters than does the black crappie), eating mostly other fishes and invertebrates. Like other sunfish crappies travel in schools, and build mounded nests on the bottoms of meter-deep shoals, often together in large colonies. Both species of crappies have a high reproductive rate, are fast growing and mature within 2-3 years so are often very abundant and regularly overpopulate their environment. Reaching a common size of 7-8 inches, black crappies are a “good fighting fish” that can be caught at all times of the year (and are commonly ice-fished). Its flakey white flesh gives it the distinction of being one of the top “pan fish.”

(Adams 2000; Bridges; Hammerson 2009; Hammerson 2009; Texas Parks and Wildlife; Wikipedia 2012(a); Wikipedia 2012(b))