Gar

Gar is a member of the Lepisosteiformes or Semionotiformes, an ancient Holstein order of ray-finned fish known as the gar fish.

The alligator gar has the scientific name Atractosteus spatula. It is a ray-finned euryhaline fish associated with the bowfin in the infraclass Holostei. Also, known as the biggest species in the gar family, besides the largest freshwater fish in North America.

The largest alligator gar is a freshwater gar (also known as Lepisosteus spatula) that habitats in the central U.S. attaining a length of 7 feet above and weight exceeds around 150 pounds.

Besides this, gar is any particularly related Cuban and Central American fishes that are worthless as food or game fishes and considered destructive of aquatic life and waterfowls.

Alligator gar fish fossils from the order of Lepisosteiformes are known from the Late Jurassic onwards.

There are around seven species of fish in two genera that inhabit fresh, brackish, and sometimes marine waters of eastern North America, Central America and Cuba in the Caribbean, which we will discuss on this page.

Within the types of gars, we will discuss longnose gar, Florida gar, and the largest alligator gar. Besides the gar spot, we will understand the amazing Gar Fish Facts.

Gar Fish Etymology

The name gar was primarily used for a species of needlefish (Belone belone) that habitats in the North Atlantic and credibly took its name from the Old English word "spear".

However, Belone belone is now more frequently referred to as the "garfish" or "gar fish" to avoid doubt with the North American gars of the family Lepisosteidae. 

Confusingly, the name "garfish" is also often used for several species of the correlated genera Strongylura, Tylosurus, and Xenentodon of the family Belonidae.

The genus name Lepisosteus is derived from the Greek word “lepis,” meaning "scale" and osteon implies the "bone".

Additionally, atractosteus is similarly derived from the Greek word atraktos, meaning arrow.

About Gar 

Gars have extended bodies that are heavily reinforced with ganoid scales, and fronted by similarly widened jaws filled with long, blunt teeth. 

Additionally, gars are often referred to as "garpike", but are not closely associated with pike, which belongs to the fish family of Esocidae. 

All of the gars are relatively broaden fish, but the largest alligator gar (Atractosteus spatula) often grows to a length of over 2 m (6.5 ft) and a weight of over 45 kg (100 lb), and specimens of around 3 m (9.8 ft) in length have been reported. Generally, their vascularized swim bladders can operate as lungs, and approximately all gars surface periodically to take a gulp of air. Gar flesh is edible and it's hard skin and scales is used by humans, but gar eggs are highly poisonous.

Gar Spot

Below is the image showing an elongated gar fish body with a gar spot:

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Gar Classification

Gar Anatomy

Scales

Gar bodies are elongated, heavily armored with ganoid scales, and fronted by similarly elongated jaws crammed with long, sharp teeth. Their tails are heterocercal, and therefore the dorsal fins are on the brink of the tail.

Swim Bladder

As their vascularized swim bladders can function as lungs, most gars surface periodically to require a gulp of air, doing so more frequently in stagnant or warm water when the concentration of oxygen within the water is low. Experiments on the air bladder have shown that the temperature of the water affects which respiration method the gar will use: aerial or aquatic. they're going to increase the aerial breathing rate (breathing air) as the temperature of the water is increased. 

A new gar can live completely submerged in oxygenated water without access to air and remain healthy while also having the ability to survive in deoxygenated water if allowed access to air. This adaptation is often the result of environmental pressures and behavioral factors. As a result of this organ, they're extremely resilient and ready to tolerate conditions that the majority of other fish couldn't survive.

Pectoral Girdle

Medial and lateral view of Lepisosteidae girdle 

The gar has paired pectoral fins and pelvic fins, also as an anal fin, a tail fin, and a fin. With the coming time, the bone structures within the fins are important to review as they will show homology throughout the fossil record. Specifically, the pelvis resembles that of other actinopterygians while still having a number of its own characteristics. 

New gar hase a postcleithrun - which may be a bone lateral to the scapula, but doesn't have post pectorals. Proximally to the post cleithrum, the supracleithrum is vital because it plays a critical role in opening the gar's jaws. This structure features a unique internal coracoid lamina only present within the Gar species. Near the supra cleithrum is the post temporal bone, which is significantly smaller than other actinopterygians. Gars even have no clavicle bone, although there are observations of elongated plates within the world.

Morphology

All the gars are relatively large fish, but the alligator gar Atractosteus spatula is the largest. The most important alligator gar ever caught and officially recorded was 8 ft 5+1⁄4 in (2.572 m) long, weighed 327 lb (148 kg), and was 47 in (120 cm) round the girth. Even the smaller species, like Lepisosteus oculatus, are large, commonly reaching lengths of over 60 cm (2.0 ft), and sometimes for much longer.

Ecology

Below is the range map of Lepisosteiformes:

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Gars minister to slow-moving fish except when striking at their prey. They like the shallow and weedy areas of rivers, lakes, and bayous, often congregating in small groups. They're voracious predators, catching their prey in their needle-like teeth with a sideways strike of the top. They feed extensively on smaller fish and invertebrates like crabs.

They are found across much of the eastern portion of North America. Although gars are found primarily in freshwater habitats, several species enter brackish waters and a couple of most notably Atractosteus tristoechus, are sometimes found within the sea. Some gars travel from lakes and rivers through sewers to urge to ponds.

Gar Species Identification

Types of Gar

Below are the types of gar:

Alligator Gar

Longnose Gar

Shortnose Gar

Florida Gar

Alligator Gar

Now, let us discuss these types in detail:

The largest among seven known gar species is the alligator gar, also known as the mega fish. 

This mega fish has a torpedo-shaped body in olive-brown colour and comes armored with glittering scales. It can grow up 10 ft long, and historical reports tell that it may grow to an excess weight of 350 pounds; this makes it the largest fish species in North America that spends almost its entire life in freshwater. (The white sturgeon is most frequently considered North America’s largest freshwater fish, but it spends most of the time in saltwater).

Alligator Gar Classification

Spotted Gar

The spotted gar (Lepisosteus oculatus) may be a smaller species of gar, measuring slightly below four feet long and weighing 15 pounds on average. Similar to Florida gars, female spotted gars are usually larger than male spotted gars. This garfish has black spots covering its head, body, and fins. Its body is compact, and it's a shorter snout. It prefers to measure in clearer shallow water with a depth of 3-5 meters and to surround itself with foliage. Its habitat ranges from the waters of Lake Michigan, the Lake Erie Basin, the Mississippi System, and river drainages along the northern coast of the Gulf of Mexico from the Nueces River in Texas east to the lower Apalachicola in Florida. It divides its habitat with the alligator gar, its primary predator. These smaller gars live a mean of 18 years.

Shortnose Gar

The shortnose gar (Lepisosteus platostomus) is found within the Mississippi Basin, Indiana, Wisconsin, Montana, Alabama, and Louisiana. It prefers to measure in lakes, swamps, and calm pools. The shortnose gar derives its name from its snout, which is shorter and extended than that of other gar species. Just like the longnose gar, it's one row of teeth. The upper jawbone is longer than the remainder of its head. The shortnose gar is deep green or brown, almost like the alligator gar.

However, counting on the clarity of the water, spots are often present on the caudal, dorsal, and anal fins. The shortnose gar features a lifespan of 20 years, reaches up to five pounds in weight, and grows to lengths of 24-35 inches. It consumes more invertebrates than the other gar, and their stomachs are found to contain higher Asian carp content than the other native North American fish.

Longnose Gar

The Longnose gar (Lepisosteus osseus) features a longer, narrower, more cylindrical body, and may be distinguished from other species of gar by its snout, which is quite twice the length of the remainder of its head. It can reach up to six feet and eight inches long and weigh up to 35-80 pounds. Similar to the shortnose gar, it's only one row of teeth. Unlike its relatives, it embarks on brackish water from time to time. Females are larger and live longer than the male longnose gar. Females have a lifespan of 22 years, while males are about half as long.

There are spots on the top, dorsal, anal, and caudal fins. Counting on the water clarity, the longnose gar comes in two colors. In clear water, they seem to be a dark deep green color. In muddy waters, it's browner in color. The extremity of the ganoid scales and in between are black. These sorts of gar are occasionally fished by locals, and blamed for eating other fish within the rivers. The longnose gar features a large range of territory in North America, into the Gulf of Mexico. Located in Florida, Quebec, all Great Lakes except Lake Superior, Missouri, Mississippi, Texas, and northern Mexico.

Florida Gar

The Florida gar (Lepisosteus platyrhincus) is often found within the Ochlockonee river, Florida, and Georgia, and prefers muddy or sandy bottoms with bountiful vegetation. It's commonly confused with its cousin, the spotted gar. Irregular black spots enclose its head, body, and fins. Green-brown scales line the rear of its body, and therefore the scales on its underbelly are white or yellow. This colouration, which blends well with the gar's surroundings, allows it to ambush its prey. This gar species has no ganoid scales on its throat. Female Florida gars extend to lengths between 13 and 34 inches, larger than their male counterparts.

Gar Fish Facts

• In 2011, a commercial fisherman accidentally encountered the largest alligator gar on record in Mississippi's Lake Chotard. This is how it looked like:

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This alligator gar was 8.5 feet long, weighed 327 lb, and was assumed to be 94 years old.

• Alligator gar fish is well-known to survive on land for a period of time of up to 2 hours. They may stay on land to look for food or to escape from predators.

• Spotted gars are commonly mistaken as logs in the water due to their cylindrical body. They can be found in calm places, like freshwater rivers, ponds, and creeks.

• For a half-century, alligator gar was called the "trash fish", or a "nuisance species" harmful to sport fisheries, and was targeted for eradication by state and federal authorities in the US.

• According to the IGFA, the record weight for Florida gar is 10 kg (22 lb). This species has irregular round, black spots on the highest of its head and over the whole body including the anal fin. The space of the eyes is a smaller amount than two-thirds the length of the snout.

• A shortnose gar is an extended, slender fish, brown or green above and whitish below. It normally develops to around 60 cm (24 in) and is heavily clad by columns of interlocking, rhomboidal ganoid scales. The shortnose gar is a snare hunter, taking care of fish, yet additionally burning-through shellfish, bugs, and different invertebrates (or spineless creatures).

• As a living remnant of the prehistoric era, the longnose gar may be a fascinating species of seafood, the foremost abundant and cosmopolitan of all species of gars, it's surprisingly very under-targeted. American Expedition is proud to portray facts, information, and images of the longnose gar.

Conclusion

• Gars have an elongated, alligator-like snout crammed with numerous, pointed, and sharp teeth. it's an elongated, torpedo-shaped body and asymmetrical tail.

• It is a carnivore that collects food both during the day and night, however, it is more active during the night. 

• They have a highly vascularized swim bladder linked to the pharynx through a pneumatic duct.