Gars (Lepisosteidae)
With a toothy maw and slender body, gars communicate "predator". This family is represented by just two genera and five species in the United States, including one of America's largest fishes, the fearsome alligator gar, which can reach up to nine feet in length and weigh nearly 300 pounds! This gigantic predator is known to feed on fish, crabs, turtles, ducks and even small mammals.
Family Level Identifiers (see Fig. 1):
- Body elongate.
- Covered with diamond-shaped (ganoid) scales.
- Long and narrow snout.
- Dorsal and anal fin set posteriorly.
- More - tips about genus identification.
Habitat:
Gars prefer sluggish or still waters with good clarity and submersed vegetation. They are perhaps most common in large rivers (sluggish reaches), wetlands, oxbow lakes and coastal marshes.
Pollution Tolerance:
Generally, gars are tolerant of pollution and somewhat tolerant of habitat disturbance. With a unique swim bladder that is described as "lunglike" (Potter, 1927), gars are able to survive in areas of low dissolved oxygen.
Use in IBI:
Lepisosteidae does not have a specific IBI metric. Their presence and diversity would be accounted for in metrics that evaluate the community as a whole, such as Metric 1: Total Number of Fish Species.
Species Name | Common Name | Pollution Tolerance | Habitat Disturbance |
---|---|---|---|
Lepisosteus oculatus | Spotted Gar | M | MT |
Lepisosteus osseus | Longnose Gar | M | T |
Lepisosteus platostomus | Shortnose Gar | M | MT |
Lepisosteus platyrhincus | Florida Gar | M | NR |
Lepisosteus spatula | Alligator Gar | M | MT |
Pollution Tolerance | Habitat Disturbance |
---|---|
T = Tolerant | T = Tolerant |
M = Intermediate | MT = Moderately Tolerant |
I = Intolerant | MI = Moderately Intolerant |
NR = No ranking | I = Intolerant |
NR = No ranking |