The tropical gar (''Atractosteus tropicus'') is a species of fish from Central America, where it is found in the Pacific and Atlantic drainages from southern

Mexico Mexico (Spanish language, Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a List of sovereign states, country in the southern portion of North America. It is borders of Mexico, bordered to the north by the United States; to the so ...

Costa Rica Costa Rica (, ; ; literally "Rich Coast"), officially the Republic of Costa Rica ( es, República de Costa Rica), is a country in the Central American region of North America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the no ...

. In Central America it is known as ''gaspar'' and in Mexico it is known as ''pejelagarto'', a contraction of the words "pez" (fish) and "lagarto" (alligator). This gar inhabits a wide range of fresh and

brackish 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 ...

water habitats such as rivers,

floodplain A floodplain or flood plain or bottomlands is an area of land adjacent to a river which stretches from the banks of its channel to the base of the enclosing valley walls, and which experiences flooding during periods of high discharge.Goudi ...

s, lakes and pools, but avoids areas with a strong current. It reaches lengths of up to (although typically less than half that length) and a weight up to . The tropical gar looks very similar to the

longnose gar The longnose gar (''Lepisosteus osseus''), also known as longnose garpike or billy gar, is a ray-finned fish in the family Lepisosteidae. The genus may have been present in North America for about 100 million years. References are made to gar ...

in color and markings, but can be distinguished by its shorter, broader snout. The tropical gar's diet consists mainly of

cichlid Cichlids are fish from the family Cichlidae in the order Cichliformes. Cichlids were traditionally classed in a suborder, the Labroidei, along with the wrasses ( Labridae), in the order Perciformes, but molecular studies have contradicted th ...

s and other fish. While gar are not widely eaten, there is a traditional

Tabasco Tabasco (), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Tabasco ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Tabasco), is one of the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 17 municipalities and its capital city is Villahermosa. It is located in ...

dish of the same name that uses chili, limes, and salt to cook the animal.

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* {{Taxonbar, from=Q302344 Lepisosteidae Mexican cuisine Freshwater fish of Central America Freshwater fish of Mexico Fish described in 1863 Taxa named by Theodore Gill