Thanks Sprkplug for getting some good pics of the RES gill rakers.
A couple of observations. I had read somewhere that RES have rakers that fewer in number than BG. Your pictures point this out with the RES having fewer protrusions spaced further apart than the hybrid.
I may have been wrong about the missing opercular tab. I may have just assumed it was missing on both sides because the assumption at the time was it had to be either BG or RES, so I was expecting to see a dark colored tab either with or without the RES red or orange margin. Having not even considered it could be a crappie at the time, I may have made an incorrect assumption.
I do not know for sure that we are looking at the first gill arch in my picture.
Thanks again for sacrificing one of your fish to help get a positive ID.
