Today I was castneting and i caught some gizzards and threadfins in my net. When i was baiting my trotline I noticed that some of the gizzard shad about 3 inches long had orange and yellow tails? Could this be a cross or just a normal coloration? I said this because I never noticed this till today.

I have never heard nor seen of them crossing before, my .02 cents

would be nice though. sure would like to have threadfins that were x-bred to survive the cold water like gizzards do. one of you biologists could get "rich and famous" if you could figure out how to do that. us northerners would pay big to have an additional foragr fish like that.

JB,

Only one drawback though. If it could be done they might be sterile, be predominately males, or have low fecundity.

yea, i know. i'm just jealous of the southerners who have threadfin options.

Smaller gizzard shad commonly have yellow tails. Tail color is not a definite characteristic seperating gizzards and threadfins.

I have never heard of them hybridizing either, but it is an interesting concept.