BlueStemLakeHomeowners.org - Alligator Gar
Home	Updated: Wednesday, February 9, 2011 10:07 PM
Blue Stem Lake Homeowners Association, Inc. - Oklahoma City, OK

Alligator Gar Lepisosteus spatula

Facts - The Alligator gar is the largest of the Garpikes, growing up to 10 feet long and weighing over 300 pounds. As their common name suggests, these fish look much like ferocious alligators. The body and fins contain many different shades of brown and grey. The snout isn't as delicate as on other gars and the eyes are set right on the side of the head. A joint behind the skull allows these fish to make nodding head movements, much like an alligator does as it downs its prey.

Characteristics: Alligator Gars are easily distinguished from other freshwater species by long, slender, cylindrical bodies, their long snouts, and by the fact that they are equipped with diamond shaped interlocking (ganoid) scales. Additionally, the dorsal and anal fins are placed well back on the body, and nearly opposite each other. The tail fin is rounded.

Identifying traits: Alligator gar may be distinguished from other gars by the presence of two rows of large teeth on either side of the upper jaw in large young and adults. Coloration is generally brown or olive above, and lighter underneath. Lepisosteus is Greek, meaning “bony scale”, and spatula is Latin for “spoon”, referring to the creatures broad snout.

Habitat: Alligator gar are usually found in slow sluggish waters, although running water seems to be necessary for spawning. Eggs are deposited in shallow water.

Food: Younger fish feed mostly on zooplankton while larger ones have been know to eat ducks but usually will feed on small fishes, frogs and crustaceans. Though a lot remains to be known about this huge fish, their fondness of meat is well understood.  Floating like a piece of driftwood in the current, they charge unsuspecting fish, turtles, waterfowl and small mammals.  And their toothy jaws make escape nearly impossible.

Factoids: Living specimens of this primitive fish closely resemble gars recorded in fossils from 75 millions years ago. The swim bladder is an organ that allows a fish to have buoyancy.  The alligator gar’s swim bladder serves double-duty as a lung because it is abundantly wrapped in tiny blood vessels and directly is connected to the throat.  This allows them to gulp air from above the water’s surface when oxygen in the water is depleted. Some folks think that just because it grows so big that it harms game fish populations. That just isn’t so. There’s no favors being done by wastefully killing alligator gar. If anything, gar help keep down the numbers of rough fish, like carp. Oklahoma record: 182 lbs., 92" long, with a 37" girth.

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