Thread: black nosed crappie

Thanks Craig ... that study explains things : That being, that if two Blacknose mate, the majority of offspring will have the stripe. And, if a Blacknose & stripeless Black Crappie mate, ALL of the offspring will have a stripe. That's definitive proof that the gene is dominant.

That being said ... I was always under the impression that the stripe was the result of a "recessive" gene. And in my discussion with another member, his impression was that the "recessive" gene would not be washed out in the offspring of a Blacknose & regular Black Crappie. My argument was that, if the gene was recessive, it wouldn't manifest itself in that scenario ... to which he counter argued that it would. This study kind of made me think that we were both right, to a certain extent. But, it still confused me as to whether the pigmentation stripe producing gene is recessive or dominant .... since most of the web info refers to the gene as being "recessive". That is ... until I read this : Crappie Confusion where the Tx Biologist, Dan Ashe, makes this statement -- " Interestingly, biologists originally believed this trait was recessive, but it is now known that it is, in fact, a dominant genetic trait". OK ... now we're getting somewhere !! Hands Clapping

THEN, he goes on to say - " ... this trait is expressed evenly in both males and females in a population and will be exhibited in about 30% of all the fish". WAIT .... WHAT ??? Is he suggesting that ~30% of ALL Black Crappie are Blacknose, or just carry the gene that manifests the stripe ?? Or is he saying that only ~30% of the Blacknose gene carrying males & females will have a stripe ??

Not meaning to be persnickity about all this .... but, I would like to know the whole truth, so as not to (continue to) be a source of misinformation about this fish. There's already enough misinformation about Blacknose Crappie circulating on the web, well meaning as it may be ... but, I'd like Crappie.com to be the source of the absolute truth & final say, so that our members can be educated/knowledgeable enough to represent this site as THE source for factual information about this fish. Thumbs Up

... cp

(permission to use quotes from the linked article, & the article itself, have been requested ... if permission is denied, this post will be deleted)