Bony fish · Lepisosteiformes · Lepisosteidae

Longnose Gar

Lepisosteus osseus

Least Concern

The species is abundant and widely distributed; it faces no significant short-term risk. See full glossary

The longnose gar — known in Spanish as pejelagarto narigudo, catán narigudo, catán aguja, pez picudo or pez caimán — is a holostean ray-finned fish of the family Lepisosteidae. It is found in the eastern half of North America. It is a species prized by anglers.

Weight

12.5 kg on average

Size

up to 2 m

Lifespan

39 years

Diet

Carnivore

Feeds mainly on other animals.

Activity

Nocturnal

Active mainly at night.

Social structure

Solitary

Lives and hunts alone, joining others only to breed.

Sighting difficulty

Easy

FreshwaterCarnivore Nocturnal Solitary Fish Freshwater

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Fun facts

Its scales are ganoid: diamond-shaped, enamelled and interlocking like plate armour. They are so hard that the indigenous peoples of North America used them as arrowheads and ornaments.
Like the bowfin, it breathes air with its swim bladder, which allows it to live in warm waters devoid of oxygen.
Its eggs are toxic to people and to many predators, an unusual defence among freshwater fishes.
It hunts by ambush, motionless near the surface, and strikes sideways with a lightning-fast snap of its extremely long snout full of fine teeth.
Its lineage split from that of the other ray-finned fishes some 250 to 300 million years ago; today seven species of gar remain in the world, all of them American.

Life cycle & biology

Skeleton type: Vertebrate - internal bony skeleton (bony fish)
Habitat & environment: Slow-moving rivers, oxbow lagoons and lakes of eastern North America, often near the surface and among vegetation
Sexual maturity: 6 years

Sources consulted: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Longnose_gar