Genetic testing has officially confirmed that the Illinois state record crappie was a hybrid.
Earlier this spring, fishing news broke about an enormous crappie caught on Kinkaid Lake in Illinois. On March 28, Ryan Povlosh of Carbondale reeled in the Illinois state record confirmed by the Illinois Department of Natural Resources.
Now, they are confirming that the crappie that broke the record was in fact a four-pound, 8.8-ounce hybrid crappie. Originally thought to be a black crappie to the eye, the testing actually showed not only that it was a hybrid, but also the genetic DNA of the fish's mother and father.
Mark Davis, a conservation biologist with the Illinois Natural History Survey said that "Using DNA from a fin clip, we looked at three pieces of DNA from this fish and compared it with both a pure white and a black crappie from Kinkaid Lake. The genetics show that the mother of the record fish was a black crappie, while the father was either a white or a hybrid crappie."
Pretty interesting that they can find information like this, but neat to say the least.
According to IDNR's Facebook post, "The fish had the appearance of a black crappie, but that's why we do the genetic testing," said Dan Stephenson, chief of the IDNR Division of Fisheries.
Does the news change anything? No, not really, but it is a cool piece of information to know. The fish will still stand as the crappie record for the state. There will be no asterisk next to the record because there is a hybrid category for records. Now, hopefully those good genetics can spread throughout the lake and result in some big slabs for some future anglers.
Ryan Povolosh was able to hook a crappie of a lifetime, but we will see just how long that record can last.
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