In
American English the name
gar (or
garpike) is strictly applied to members of the
Lepisosteus, 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.
Etymology
In
British English the name gar was originally used for a species of
needlefish,
Belone belone, found in the North Atlantic, itself likely named after the
Old English word
gar meaning "spear".
Belone belone is now more commonly referred to as the "garpike" or "gar fish" to avoid confusion with the North American gars of the family Lepisosteidae.
The genus name Lepisosteus comes from the Greek lepis meaning "scale" and osteon meaning "bone". Atractosteus is similarly derived from Greek, in this case from atraktos, meaning "arrow".
Distribution
The gars are members of the
Lepisosteiformes (or
Semionotiformes), an ancient order of "primitive"
ray-finned fish;
fossil gars are known from the
Permian onwards. Their primitive traits are their very hard armour-like ganoid scales, a
swimming bladder open to the
pharynx that can function as a
lung and the heterocercal tail. Fossil gars are found in both Europe 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.
Anatomy and morphology
Gar bodies are elongated, heavily armored with
ganoid scales, and fronted by similarly elongated
jaws filled with long sharp teeth. Tails are
heterocercal, and the
dorsal fins are close to the tail. As their vascularised
swim bladders can function as lungs, most gar 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. As a result, they are extremely hardy and able to tolerate conditions that would kill most other fish.
All the gars are relatively big fish, but the alligator gar Atractosteus spatula is the champion, as specimens having been recorded up to 3 meters in length. Even the smaller species, such as Lepisosteus oculatus, are large, commonly reaching lengths of over 60 cm (2 feet), and sometimes much more.
Ecology
Gar 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. Gar feed extensively on smaller fish and invertebrates such as crabs. Gar are found across eastern North America from
Costa Rica to southern
Quebec (for example
Lepisosteus osseus). Although gar are primarily found in freshwater habitats several species enter
brackish waters and a few, most notably
Atractosteus tristoechus, are sometimes found in the sea.
Significance to humans
Gar flesh is edible, and sometimes available in markets, but unlike the
sturgeon that they resemble, their
eggs (roe) are poisonous. Several species are traded as aquarium fish.
Cultural Significance
The Gar fish is of considerable significance to Native American peoples of the southeastern United States where the gar figures prominently in ceremonial life and music. See
Creek,
Seminole
References
External links