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desire clear pools of water, and anthropogenic factors can decrease their survivability. This species is not on the U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service federally endangered species list, although in some northern states it is on special concern lists. In Canada, the fish is designated as threatened by the Committee on the Status of
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in the waters of North
America. Waste and chemical drainage into lakes and rivers causes chemical buildup and contamination of the water. Consequently, the water becomes murkier and causes predatory fish to have high mercury levels or accumulate carcinogenic compounds into their bodies. Spotted gar
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Habitats for spotted gar are clear, slow-moving, shallow waters of creeks, rivers, and lakes. It occasionally enters brackish or more salty waters. In response to the low oxygen levels created by slow-moving water, the gars have developed the ability to gulp air and send it to a primitive lung called
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The female can lay up to about 20,000 eggs, but on average about 13,000 eggs are laid. They lay their eggs on leaves of aquatic plants. The eggs are green in color and have an adhesive coating to keep them attached to aquatic vegetation. They are highly toxic to prospective predators. After 10 to 14
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and southeast to the lower
Apalachicola River in Florida. The gar population is small in the north and is being threatened in Lake Erie by the destruction of their habitat and pollution. The gar is more common in the southern waters like the Mississippi River basin from southern Minnesota to Alabama
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Abiotic factors that affect the spotted gar by humans include destruction of habitat and increased sedimentation in the water. In 2002, the
Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality, Office of Water Resources, in coordination with the US Environmental Protection Agency, took fish tissue samples
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Movement rates were higher during the summer than during the fall and winter, and rates were greater at night than at dawn during both seasons. The temperature greatly affects their moving rates and their ability to range their home turf. When the water is warmer during the spring and summer, they
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have an elongated mouth with many needle-like teeth to catch other fish and crustaceans. It is one of the smallest of the seven species of gar found in North
America, growing 2–3 ft (0.61–0.91 m) in length and weighing 4–6 lb (1.8–2.7 kg) typically. Gars have diamond-shaped, thick,
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Spotted gar spawn in the spring in April, May, and June, or when the water temperature is between 21.0 and 26.0 °C (69.8 and 78.8 °F), depending on the location. Gar spawn in shallow water with abundant vegetation and cover. A female can have multiple mating partners and the female is
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Males mature at the age of two or three, whereas females mature at three or four years old. The male's average lifespan is 8 years and the female's average lifespan is 10 years. Females have lower annual mortality rates. The maximum lifespan for a gar is 18 years. Teri the spotted gar, of
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works to protect the spotted gar and its habitat. Current management plans for spotted gar include: increasing water quality, minimizing or avoiding pollution, analyzing contaminated samples. The most important biological decline of the species is
785:
Brim, M.S., D. Bateman, R. Jarvis. (2000). Environmental
Contaminants Evaluation of St. Joseph Bay, Florida. Publication No. PCFO-EC-00-01. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Panama City Field Office, Panama City, Florida. Vol 1 - Vol
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In one study, most spotted gar were shoreline oriented, preferred submerged branches as cover, and avoided areas of exposed bank. During a flood pulse, a floodplain provides habitat for spawning and nursery habitat for gar eggs.
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The spotted gar is a voracious predator. Its sharp-toothed beak is very effective at catching fast moving prey. A diet study of the spotted gar reported the diet of a spotted gar consists of four species of fish;
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fish eat algae and are eaten by gar. Another food chain example is herbivorous invertebrates eat algae, are eaten by carnivorous fish, then the fish is eaten by the gar. Gar do not have many predators, only
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to the swamps in Union County; though sporadic, the population has dwindled in these water systems because of the loss of specific habitat they need to live, clear pools with aquatic vegetation.
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Collette, B.B.; Grubbs, D.; Pezold, F.; Simons, J.; Caruso, J.; Carlson, J.; McEachran, J.D.; Brenner, J.; Tornabene, L.; Chakrabarty, P.; Robertson, R.; Daniels, A.; Maiz-Tome, L. (2019).
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and western
Florida. Historical records indicate the spotted gar resided in the Thames and Sydenham Rivers in Ontario, Canada. Also, the fish was once common in Illinois in the Green and
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Hayer, Cari-Ann. (2008). Influence of Gravel Mining and Other
Factors on Detection Probabilities of Coastal Plain Fishes in the Mobile River Basin, Alabama.
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Gars are almost never eaten in the central and northern United States. They have high levels of mercury and are considered a cancer risk.
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300:) is a freshwater fish native to North America that has an abundance of dark spots on its head, fins, and dart-like body. Spotted
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travel more often than during the cold seasons. Spotted gars eat 70% of their food intake at night compared to dusk and dawn.
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in Canada. For
Canadian waters the spotted gar is protected by the Species at Risk Act and the federal Fisheries Act. The
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fish would eat them, mainly at an early life stage. The fish would compete with other carnivorous fish such as the bowfin (
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479:. Spotted gar was found to be a cancer risk with high concentrations of heavy metals and organic compounds.
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410:. Other invertebrates filled the remaining 23.6% of the stomach. Spotted gar are also known to eat
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A specimen caught in
Kentucky Lake by ecology students from Murray State University
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Van Der Laan, Richard; Eschmeyer, William N.; Fricke, Ronald (11 November 2014).
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in the aquatic food chain in lakes and rivers. In one example of a food chain
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Today, humans are affecting this fish species by destroying habitat and
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Lepisosteus oculatus (Spotted gar). (n.d.). Animal Diversity Web.
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Lepisosteus oculatus (Spotted gar). (n.d.). Animal Diversity Web.
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days, the eggs hatch. At this stage, the gar are most vulnerable.
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undetermined sex, lived at the Museum of Natural Sciences of the
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https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Lepisosteus_oculatus/
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https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Lepisosteus_oculatus/
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523:Habitat Stewardship Program for Species at Risk
774:Transactions of the American Fisheries Society
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572:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2019-2.RLTS.T191026A1967019.en
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471:in the Lower Mississippi River to test for
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809:Texas Parks and Wildlife: Spotted Gar (
324:and its current range is from southern
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624:"Family-group names of Recent fishes"
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754:. USask College of Arts and Sciences
1101:IUCN Red List least concern species
752:"USask's Teri the spotted gar dies"
558:IUCN Red List of Threatened Species
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352:Gar larva at 22 days, stained for
336:east to the northern coast of the
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305:enamel (ganoid) scales. The name
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593:Froese, R.; Pauly, D. (2017).
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488:usually larger than the male.
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320:The spotted gar is native to
750:Putnam, Chris (2022-10-31).
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309:is Greek for "bony scale".
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498:University of Saskatchewan
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641:10.11646/zootaxa.3882.1.1
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81:Scientific classification
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316:Distribution and habitat
262:Cylindrosteus agassizii
246:Cylindostreus productus
238:Lepisosteus latirostris
1111:Fish described in 1864
800:Animal Diversity Web:
377:
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278:Cylindrosteus zadockii
270:Cylindrosteus bartonii
565:: e.T191026A1967019.
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328:to the west from the
254:Lepisosteus productus
886:Lepisosteus_oculatus
872:Lepisosteus oculatus
842:Lepisosteus oculatus
811:Lepisosteus oculatus
802:Lepisosteus oculatus
551:Lepisosteus oculatus
297:Lepisosteus oculatus
203:Lepisosteus oculatus
42:Lepisosteus oculatus
528:habitat destruction
519:endangered wildlife
500:for over 20 years.
51:Conservation status
819:spotted gar genome
510:aquatic vegetation
504:Current management
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1060:Open Tree of Life
834:Taxon identifiers
602:version (02/2017)
477:organic compounds
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151:Lepisosteiformes
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483:Life history
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24:Spotted gar
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1021:NatureServe
959:iNaturalist
866:Wikispecies
804:spotted gar
455:carnivorous
450:herbivorous
356:(blue) and
307:Lepisosteus
292:spotted gar
257:(Cope 1865)
241:Girard 1858
172:Lepisosteus
38:Spotted gar
1095:Categories
758:6 November
578:8 November
534:References
460:Amia calva
141:Ginglymodi
817:View the
354:cartilage
249:Cope 1865
179:Species:
104:Kingdom:
98:Eukaryota
1026:2.104136
977:10576375
933:FishBase
925:46582205
851:Wikidata
650:25543675
600:FishBase
446:predator
416:crappies
404:crayfish
396:bluegill
392:warmouth
228:Synonyms
210:Winchell
157:Family:
118:Chordata
114:Phylum:
108:Animalia
94:Domain:
71:IUCN 3.1
1065:1028028
951:2346692
857:Q779340
823:Ensembl
628:Zootaxa
424:catfish
381:Ecology
326:Ontario
167:Genus:
147:Order:
124:Class:
69: (
1078:275402
1052:275402
1003:191026
990:161095
964:104249
648:
607:18 May
437:, and
435:larvae
432:insect
408:shrimp
398:, and
1073:WoRMS
1010:NAS:
972:IRMNG
912:6PCRM
899:30343
439:algae
360:(red)
334:Texas
135:Clade
1047:OBIS
1039:7918
1034:NCBI
998:IUCN
985:ITIS
946:GBIF
938:1075
894:BOLD
760:2022
646:PMID
632:3882
609:2017
580:2022
563:2019
530:.
475:and
420:bass
406:and
358:bone
290:The
212:1864
1013:756
920:EoL
907:CoL
881:ADW
821:in
636:doi
567:doi
463:).
332:in
302:gar
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Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Additional terms may apply.
