GARS
In American English the name gar (or garpike) is strictly applied to members of the Lepisosteidae, a family including seven living species
of fish in two genera that inhabit fresh, brackish, and occasionally marine waters of eastern North America, Central America, and the Caribbean islands.
The gars are members of the Lepisosteiformes (or Semionotiformes), an ancient order of "primitive" ray-finned fish; fossils from this order are known from the late Cretaceous onwards. Fossil gars are found in Europe, South America, and North America, indicating that in times past these fish had a wider distribution than they do today. Gars are considered to be a remnant of a group of rather primitive bony fish that flourished in the Mesozoic, and are most closely related to the bowfin, another archaic fish now found only in North America. There are many species of gar, including the alligator gar that can exceed 10 feet in length.
Gar bodies are elongated, heavily armored with ganoid scales, and fronted by similarly elongated jaws filled with long sharp teeth. Their tails are heterocercal, and the dorsal fins are close to the tail. As their vascularised swim bladders can function as lungs, most gars surface periodically to take a gulp of air, doing so more frequently in stagnant or warm water when the concentration of oxygen in the water is low. They also appear to surface in fast moving rapids. As a result, they are extremely hardy and able to tolerate conditions that would kill most other fish.
All the gars are relatively large fish, but the alligator gar Atractosteus spatula is the largest, as specimens having been recorded up to 3 metres (9.8 ft) in length. Even the smaller species, such as Lepisosteus oculatus, are large, commonly reaching lengths of over 60 centimetres (2.0 ft), and sometimes much more.
Gars tend to be slow moving fish except when striking at their prey. They prefer the shallow and weedy areas of rivers, lakes, and bayous often congregating in small groups. They are voracious predators, catching their prey with their needle-like teeth, obtaining with a sideways strike of the head. The eggs of the Gar fish are highly toxic, hence they are not used as Food fish. They thrive best on a ph range of 6 to 8.
Gars more commonly kept in aquariums are the Florida Spotted Gar, The Shortnose Gar and the Longnose Gar.
of fish in two genera that inhabit fresh, brackish, and occasionally marine waters of eastern North America, Central America, and the Caribbean islands.
The gars are members of the Lepisosteiformes (or Semionotiformes), an ancient order of "primitive" ray-finned fish; fossils from this order are known from the late Cretaceous onwards. Fossil gars are found in Europe, South America, and North America, indicating that in times past these fish had a wider distribution than they do today. Gars are considered to be a remnant of a group of rather primitive bony fish that flourished in the Mesozoic, and are most closely related to the bowfin, another archaic fish now found only in North America. There are many species of gar, including the alligator gar that can exceed 10 feet in length.
Gar bodies are elongated, heavily armored with ganoid scales, and fronted by similarly elongated jaws filled with long sharp teeth. Their tails are heterocercal, and the dorsal fins are close to the tail. As their vascularised swim bladders can function as lungs, most gars surface periodically to take a gulp of air, doing so more frequently in stagnant or warm water when the concentration of oxygen in the water is low. They also appear to surface in fast moving rapids. As a result, they are extremely hardy and able to tolerate conditions that would kill most other fish.
All the gars are relatively large fish, but the alligator gar Atractosteus spatula is the largest, as specimens having been recorded up to 3 metres (9.8 ft) in length. Even the smaller species, such as Lepisosteus oculatus, are large, commonly reaching lengths of over 60 centimetres (2.0 ft), and sometimes much more.
Gars tend to be slow moving fish except when striking at their prey. They prefer the shallow and weedy areas of rivers, lakes, and bayous often congregating in small groups. They are voracious predators, catching their prey with their needle-like teeth, obtaining with a sideways strike of the head. The eggs of the Gar fish are highly toxic, hence they are not used as Food fish. They thrive best on a ph range of 6 to 8.
Gars more commonly kept in aquariums are the Florida Spotted Gar, The Shortnose Gar and the Longnose Gar.