Alligator gar

Alligator gar
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Actinopterygii
Order:	Lepisosteiformes
Family:	Lepisosteidae
Genus:	Atractosteus
Species:	A. spatula
Binomial name
Atractosteus spatula (Lacépède, 1803)
Synonyms
Lepisosteus spatula Lacépède, 1803 Atractosteus adamantinus Rafinesque, 1818

The alligator gar, Atractosteus spatula, is a primitive ray-finned fish fish. It is also referred to as the gator gar. Unlike other gars, the mature alligator gar possesses a dual row of large teeth in the upper jaw. It is these remarkably alligator-like teeth which gives it its name. The dorsal surface of the alligator gar is a brown or olive-color, while the ventral surface tends to be a lighter color. Their scales are diamond-shaped and interlocking (ganoid) and were once used by Native Americans for jewelry.

The alligator gar is the largest species of gar and is the largest exclusively freshwater fish in North America. It can be as long as eight to twelve feet and often weighs at least 100 pounds at maturity. The current world record alligator gar weighed 279 pounds and was caught in the Rio Grande River in 1951. Even larger alligator gars — over 300 pounds — have been caught by trotliners.

Location

This ten-foot alligator gar was caught and photographed at Mhoon Landing in Mississippi in 1910.

Alligator gar are found in the southeastern United States: Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee, Arkansas, Missouri, Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina. They have also been known occasionally to come as far north as central Kansas, off the Republican River and up into Clarks Creek. They inhabit sluggish pools and backwaters or large rivers, bayous, and lakes. They are rarely found in brackish or saltwater, but are more adaptable to the latter than are other gars.

In February 2007, a 1.5-foot alligator gar was found roaming far in the city of Jakarta, Indonesia, when the city was hit by a major flood (see External Links below).

Behavior

Feeding

The alligator gar is an aggressive, solitary fish that lives in fresh water bodies in the southeastern U.S. It is carnivorous and feeds by lurking amongst reeds and other underwater plant life, waiting for food to pass by. It has even been witnessed attacking a five foot alligator before devouring it. [1]

Though subsisting mostly on fish, the alligator gar will also eat waterfowl. However, there are no documented cases of alligator gars attacking humans in North America.

Breeding

Though the alligator gar prefers slow-moving waters, it appears to need running water in order to spawn. Spawning occurs in May-Aug, when the fish deposit their eggs in shallow water. The female swims up stream with an escort of 2 or more males.

Taxonomic history

Until relatively recently all gars have generally been classified in the genus Lepisosteus Lacepède, 1803. The alligator gar had been given the name Atractosteus adamantinus by the eccentric Constantine Samuel Rafinesque-Schmaltz in 1818, and for a long time Atractosteus was simply viewed as a junior synonym of Lepisosteus. E. O. Wiley resurrected this genus in 1976, in his work The phylogeny and biogeography of fossil and Recent gars.

Based on Wiley's work, after 1976 the gars were officially split into Lepisosteus and Atractosteus, and ever since then zoos, aquarium books, anglers, and so on have been gradually catching up with the proper terminology.

Human usage

Sport fish

Oklahoma, Texas and Louisiana allow regulated sport fishing of the alligator gar.

The fish is popular amongst bowfishers because of its size and tendency to fight. An interesting anatomical feature of this fish is that its buoyancy bladder is directly connected to its throat, giving it the ability to draw in air from above the water. For this reason, alligator gar are often found near the surface of a body of water, much to the delight of bowfishers.

Food source

Alligator gar aren't widely eaten by humans, though in some southern areas, particularly in Texas and Louisiana, they are served in restaurants and considered a viable food source.

References

• "Lepisosteus spatula". Integrated Taxonomic Information System. 30 January. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= and |year= / |date= mismatch (help)
• Froese, Rainer; Pauly, Daniel (eds.). "Lepisosteus spatula". FishBase. October 2005 version.
• Lacepède, B. G. E. 1803, Histoire naturelle des poissons; Hist. Nat. Poiss. i-lxviii + 1-803 + index
• Rafinesque, C. S., 1820, Ichthyologia Ohiensis [Part 8]. Western Rev. Misc. Mag. 165-173.
• E. O. Wiley, 1976. The phylogeny and biogeography of fossil and Recent gars (Actinopterygii: Lepisosteidae). Mus. Nat. Hist. Univ. Kansas Misc. Publ. 64:1-111.
• Alligator Gar at the University of Evansville
• Alligator Gar at Texas Parks and Wildlife

External links

• Alligator Gar information from The Fort Worth Zoo
• Land Big Fish Alligator Gar Trophy Room
• 184-pound State of Oklahoma Record
• 1.5-foot alligator gar found roaming far in the city of Jakarta, Indonesia, during big flood in February, 2007