Willy Wonka? – A Missouri Woman Just Caught a Rare Golden Crappie

There are fish stories and then there are FISH STORIES. This is that second one. A Missouri woman just caught a rare golden crappie. There's no word if she won a ticket to a chocolate factory or not though.

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The Missouri Department of Conservation just shared this neato golden fish news on Facebook this week. I also saw this shared by Yahoo News today.

In case you can't read the small Facebook status, they say "Holly Haddan was fishing from a private pond in Webster County" when she caught this golden crappie. They explained what makes this rare color appear in fish like this:

This occurrence is known as xanthochromism - a genetic condition that causes unusually yellow or orange pigmentation in animals, similar to how albinism causes a lack of pigment.

I'll take their word for that as I got a C- in biology class. I do know that my dad and I caught a lot of crappie and bass during my childhood years, but never a golden one. Darn the luck.

Congrats to Holly on this unique fishing accomplishment. Now we wait to see if Willy Wonka will let her tour (and maybe own) the chocolate factory for her golden catch.