![Longnose gar](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b0/Longnose_gar.PNG)
The longnose gar (''Lepisosteus osseus''), also known as longnose garpike or billy gar, is a
ray-finned fish
Actinopterygii (; ), members of which are known as ray-finned fishes, is a class of bony fish. They comprise over 50% of living vertebrate species.
The ray-finned fishes are so called because their fins are webs of skin supported by bony or h ...
in the family
Lepisosteidae
Gars are members of the family Lepisosteidae, which are the only surviving members of the Ginglymodi, an ancient holosteian group of ray-finned fish, which first appeared during the Triassic, over 240 million years ago. Gars comprise seven livin ...
. The genus may have been present in North America for about 100 million years. References are made to gars being a primitive group of bony fish because they have retained some primitive features, such as a
spiral valve
A spiral valve or scroll valve is the corkscrew-shaped lower portion of the intestine of some sharks, Acipenseriformes (sturgeon and paddlefish), rays, skates, bichirs, Lepisosteiformes (gars), and lungfishes. A modification of the ileum, the s ...
intestine, but they are not primitive in the sense of not being fully developed.
They have an olive brown to green, torpedo-shaped body armored with
ganoid scales, elongated jaws that form a needle-like snout nearly three times the length of its head, and a row of numerous sharp, cone-shaped teeth on each side of the upper jaw.
They typically inhabit freshwater lakes,
brackish water
Brackish water, sometimes termed brack water, is water occurring in a natural environment that has more salinity than freshwater, but not as much as seawater. It may result from mixing seawater (salt water) and fresh water together, as in estua ...
near coastal areas, swamps, and sluggish backwaters of rivers and streams. They can breathe both air and water, which allows them to inhabit aquatic environments that are low in oxygen.
Longnose gar are found along the east coasts of North and
Central America
Central America ( es, América Central or ) is a subregion of the Americas. Its boundaries are defined as bordering the United States to the north, Colombia to the south, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. ...
, and range as far west in the US as Kansas, Texas, and southern New Mexico. They are the only species of the family Lepisosteidae found in New Mexico. Their populations are stable and in some areas abundant in the interior portions of their range.
Etymology
The longnose gar was first described by
Carl Linnaeus
Carl Linnaeus (; 23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after his ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné Blunt (2004), p. 171. (), was a Swedish botanist, zoologist, taxonomist, and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the ...
(1758), who gave it the name ''
Esox
''Esox'' is a genus of freshwater fish commonly known as pike or pickerel. It is the type genus of the family Esocidae. The type species of the genus is ''Esox lucius'', the northern pike.
''Esox'' has been present in Laurentia (which later ...
osseus
A bone is a rigid organ that constitutes part of the skeleton in most vertebrate animals. Bones protect the various other organs of the body, produce red and white blood cells, store minerals, provide structure and support for the body, an ...
''.
The generic name ''Esox'', which is for pike, was later changed to ''
Lepisosteus
''Lepisosteus'' is a genus of gars in the family Lepisosteidae.
Distribution
While in the present day, ''Lepisosteus'' is only known across North America, fossil remains show it was much more widespread in the past, with specimens known from t ...
'', the genus for slender gars. ''Lepisosteus osseus'' (Linnaeus, 1758), the scientific name for longnose gar, originated by combining ''
lepis
This is a list of common affixes used when scientifically naming species, particularly extinct species for whom only their scientific names are used, along with their derivations.
*a-, an-: ''Pronunciation'': /ə/, /a/, /ən/, /an/. ''Origin'' ...
'', which is Greek for scale, and ''osteos'', the Latin word for bony. The latter references the bone-like,
rhomboidal
Traditionally, in two-dimensional geometry, a rhomboid is a parallelogram in which adjacent sides are of unequal lengths and angles are non-right angled.
A parallelogram with sides of equal length ( equilateral) is a rhombus but not a rhomboid. ...
-shaped ganoid scales that protect gars against predation.
Gars have been referred to as primitive fish or living fossils because they have retained some morphological characteristics of their earliest ancestors, such as a spiral valve intestine, and a highly
vascularized
Angiogenesis is the physiological process through which new blood vessels form from pre-existing vessels, formed in the earlier stage of vasculogenesis. Angiogenesis continues the growth of the vasculature by processes of sprouting and splitt ...
swim bladder
The swim bladder, gas bladder, fish maw, or air bladder is an internal gas-filled Organ (anatomy), organ that contributes to the ability of many bony fish (but not cartilaginous fish) to control their buoyancy, and thus to stay at their curren ...
lung that supplements gill respiration for breathing both air and water.
Referring to gars as primitive fish simply means they have existed for a long time, having evolved over millions of years into a more perfected morphological state, not that the animal is primitive in the sense that it is not fully developed.
Distribution
Fossils of the genus dating from 100 million years ago (Mya) have been found in Africa, Asia, Europe, North America, and South America. In the US, fossils of the modern species date back to the
Pleistocene
The Pleistocene ( , often referred to as the ''Ice age'') is the geological Epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 2,580,000 to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was fina ...
, where they were discovered in the Kingsdown Formation in
Meade County, KS and date back to the
Irvingtonian (1.8 - 0.3 Mya). Longnose gar are found in Central America,
Cuba
Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...
, North America, and the
Isla de la Juventud.
Longnose gar are frequently found in fresh water in the eastern half of the United States, but some gar were found in
salinities
Salinity () is the saltiness or amount of salt dissolved in a body of water, called saline water (see also soil salinity). It is usually measured in g/L or g/kg (grams of salt per liter/kilogram of water; the latter is dimensionless and equal ...
up to 31 ppt. Their microhabitats consist of areas near downed trees, stone outcrops, and vegetation.
Ecology
The most common prey of longnose gar are small fish and occasionally
insect
Insects (from Latin ') are pancrustacean hexapod invertebrates of the class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body ( head, thorax and abdomen), three pairs ...
s and small
crustacean
Crustaceans (Crustacea, ) form a large, diverse arthropod taxon which includes such animals as decapods, seed shrimp, branchiopods, fish lice, krill, remipedes, isopods, barnacles, copepods, amphipods and mantis shrimp. The crustacean group ...
s; they mostly feed at night.
[Haase, B.L. (1969). An ecological life history of the longnose gar, ''Lepisosteus osseus'' (Linnaeus), in Lake Mendota and in several other lakes of southern Wisconsin. Dissertation, the University of Wisconsin - Madison, Madison, Wisconsin.] In most studies of adult ''L. osseus'', a variety of species made up a majority of the diet, with the dominant prey changing among locations.
Inland silverside
The inland silverside (''Menidia beryllina'') is a neotropical silverside native to eastern North America, and introduced into California. It is a fish of estuaries and freshwater environments.
Inland silversides are quite elongate even for silv ...
s were particularly common prey of juvenile gar in Lake Texoma, making up 84% of the diet, with gamefishes accounting for less than 1% of the diet. In Florida, their diet consisted mainly of fishes, with
gizzard shad
''Dorosoma'' is a genus that contains five species of shads, within the herring family Clupeidae. The five species are native to the North and/or Central America, and are known from both fresh water and the waters of estuaries and bays.
The Am ...
,
bullhead catfish
''Ameiurus'' is a genus of catfishes in the family Ictaluridae. It contains the three common types of bullhead catfish found in waters of the United States, the black bullhead (''Ameiurus melas''), the brown bullhead (''Ameiurus nebulosus''), a ...
, and small
bluegill
The bluegill (''Lepomis macrochirus''), sometimes referred to as "bream", "brim", "sunny", or "copper nose" as is common in Texas, is a species of North American freshwater fish, native to and commonly found in streams, rivers, lakes, ponds and ...
particularly common. In Missouri, fishes made up 98% of the diet with
shiners being the most common prey. In some lakes, adult longnose gar may consume large numbers of
sunfish.
Menhaden
Menhaden, also known as mossbunker and bunker and "the most important fish in the sea", are forage fish of the genera ''Brevoortia'' and ''Ethmidium'', two genera of marine fish in the family Clupeidae. ''Menhaden'' is a blend of ''poghaden' ...
are a major food source along coasts where ''L. osseus'' moves towards the mouths of bayous into higher-salinity waters in the afternoon and evening to find this more prevalent prey. Longnose gar then move back up the bayous, into the lower-salinity waters in the morning. Their main competitors are other garfishes, and somewhat commonly, large gar to feed on smaller ones.
Historically, Native Americans and early colonists harvested longnose gar as a main food source. Over time, longnose gars have gained in popularity as a sportfish rather than as a food source, but some people consider gar meat a delicacy. Adult longnose gar are considered apex predators in their aquatic habit, and have few predators, which include humans and in the southern reaches of their range the
American alligator
The American alligator (''Alligator mississippiensis''), sometimes referred to colloquially as a gator or common alligator, is a large crocodilian reptile native to the Southeastern United States. It is one of the two extant species in the g ...
.
They are most vulnerable to predation when they are young, and are preyed upon by other garfishes, larger fishes, birds of prey, snapping turtles, and water snakes.
Life history
Longnose gar have an typical lifespan of 15–20 years with a maximum reported age of 39. This long lifespan allows the female to sexually mature around 6 years old. Males mature sexually as early as 2 years of age. Longnose gar are sexually dimorphic; the females are larger than the males in body length, weight, and fin length. They generally have a clutch size close to 30,000, depending on the weight-to-length ratio of the females; larger females bear larger clutch sizes. They spawn in temperatures close to in late April to early July.
Eggs have a toxic, adhesive coating to help them stick to substrates, and they are deposited onto stones in shallow water, rocky shelves, vegetation, or
smallmouth bass nests. Their hatch time is 7-9 days; young gar stay in vegetation during the first summer of life.
[ Longnose gar reach an typical length of , with a maximum length around and in weight.
]
Management
Currently, no management of this species is being conducted, nor is it federally listed as endangered, although some states have reported it as threatened (South Dakota
South Dakota (; Sioux language, Sioux: , ) is a U.S. state in the West North Central states, North Central region of the United States. It is also part of the Great Plains. South Dakota is named after the Lakota people, Lakota and Dakota peo ...
, Delaware
Delaware ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Maryland to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and New Jersey and the Atlantic Ocean to its east. The state takes its name from the adjacent Del ...
, and Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...
). In the early 1900s, longnose gar were considered as destructive predators. Soon after this characterization, gar population reduction methods were established. Their declining populations are due to overfishing
Overfishing is the removal of a species of fish (i.e. fishing) from a body of water at a rate greater than that the species can replenish its population naturally (i.e. the overexploitation of the fishery's existing fish stock), resulting in th ...
, habitat loss
Habitat destruction (also termed habitat loss and habitat reduction) is the process by which a natural habitat becomes incapable of supporting its native species. The organisms that previously inhabited the site are displaced or dead, thereby ...
, dams, road construction
A road is a linear way for the conveyance of traffic that mostly has an improved surface for use by vehicles (motorized and non-motorized) and pedestrians. Unlike streets, the main function of roads is transportation.
There are many types of ...
, pollution, and other human-caused destruction of the aquatic systems. Because of their long lifespans and older sexual maturity age, factors affecting their reproduction is an issue in preserving them. Overfishing is a large issue for this fish, especially when the fish have not reached sexual maturity due to the female not reaching sexual maturity until about 6 years of age.[
]
References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q1431272
Lepisosteidae
Fish described in 1758
Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus
Fauna of the Eastern United States
Freshwater fish of the Southeastern United States
Freshwater fish of North America