font settings and languages

Font Size: Large | Normal | Small
Font Face: Verdana | Geneva | Georgia
Languages:

Lepisosteus osseus

(Long-nosed gar)

Overview

[ Back to top ]

Family : Gars ; Occur in sluggish pools , backwaters and oxbows of medium to large rivers , and lakes . Usually found near vegetation. Occasionally found in brackish waters. Spawning occurs in freshwater and possibly slightly brackish water[1]. Migrate up rivers during the spawning season [1]. Eggs and larvae are demersal and adhesive [1]. A voracious predator , feeding on various fishes and crustaceans. The roe is poisonous.

Interesting Facts

[ Back to top ]

Common Names

[ Back to top ]

Click on the language to view common names.

Common Names in Czech:

Kostl, Kostlín americký, Kostlín dlouhonosý, Kostlín obecný

Common Names in Danish:

Langn, Langnæset pansergedde, Langsnudet pansergedde

Common Names in Dutch:

Langneus beensnoek

Common Names in English:

Gar, Long-nose gar, Long-nosed gar, longnose gar

Common Names in Finnish:

Luuhauki

Common Names in French:

Brochet Lance , Brochet lance á long nez, Garpique longnez, lépisosté osseux, Lépidostée osseuse, lépisosté osseux, Lépisostée osseuse, Lépisostée osseux

Common Names in German:

Alligatorfisch, Gemeiner Knochenhecht, Gemeiner Langschn, gemeiner Langschnäuziger, Knochenhecht, Langnasen-Knochenhecht, Schlanker Knochenhecht

Common Names in Italian:

Luccio alligatore

Common Names in Mandarin Chinese:

雀鱔, 雀鳝

Common Names in Polish:

Niszczuka a. luskost

Common Names in Portuguese:

Bicudo de focinho comprido

Common Names in Russian:

Dlinnorylyi pantsirnik

Common Names in Spanish:

Cat, Catán, catán aguja, catán aguja, Gaspar picudo, Lepis, Lepisósteo óseo, Pejelagarto

Common Names in Swedish:

Långnosad bengädda

Description

[ Back to top ]

Physical Description

Species Lepisosteus osseus

Body: Mouth and Snout: Snout dorsal-ventrally flattened. Prominent beak-like snout forms mouth, which is terminal to slightly subterminal with numerous small but obvious needle-like teeth. No barbels . The longnose gar has a longer mouth than the shortnose gar. Body Pattern : Diffuse black spots on posterior portion of body, overlying dark gray, brown, olive or tan flanks. Specimens that are under 500 mm TL may have a broad dark lateral stripe ; this breaks up into blotches and fades in the larger specimens. Undersides white with dark freckling on chin. Median fins spotted; pelvics and pectorals sometimes also with diffuse spots. The spots are more pronounced toward the back of the fish, and lighter toward the front. The background color of the longnose gar may be a little lighter than that of the shortnose gar. There is considerable variation ; some individuals are a light gray, and some are almost black. It is fully scaled with thick ganoid (rhomboid ) scales . Body Shape : The body is long, cylindrical, and rigid . Typical adult size is 700-1000 mm TL, with a maximum of about 1800 mm (35 inches).

Fins : Heterocercal tail, but rounded . In older adults it is not as elongated at the top. Single dorsal fin with no spines, located on the posterior portion of the back. Pelvic fins abdominal . No adipose fin . The anal and dorsal fins are set far back on the body toward the tail.

Distinguishing characteristics: The long, cylindrical, rigid body shape and long, beak-like snout distinguish the gars . In top view the length from the eyes to the tip of the mouth is fifteen times the minimum width , no spots on top of head or snout, but sometimes a few on the jaw. Lateral line scales 60-66, predorsal scales 47-55, transverse scales 17-24. See also similar species information.

Breeding adults: Males very dark, almost completely black.

Juveniles : Juveniles have a very pronounced dark lateral stripe, dramatic coloration , and a long filament on the tail.

Distinctive Features: Gars can be distinguished from other fish by their long slender tubular bodies. Gars are a primitive group of bony fish that still retain a spiral valve intestine, which is a primitive feature of the digestive system commonly associated with elasmobranchs. Gars bodies are covered with rhomboidal ganoid scales , which are composed of two layers. The outer layer is of ganoin and the inner layer is made of isopedine , both layers are penetrated by blood vessels . These scales enterlock to produce a virtual suit of armor leaving the gars with few natural predators . Gars also have a highly vascularized swim bladder connected to the pharynx by a pneumatic duct . This enables them to gulp air , which aids in facultative air breathing. This allows gar to breathe when there are very low oxygen levels in the water. The longnose gars can be distinguished from any other gar by its elongate snout more than twice the length of the rest of their head. The longnose gar can be distinguished from the alligator gar because it has only 1 row of sharp, villiform teeth in the upper jaw.

Dentition: The longnose gar has an elongate snout with a single row of long sharp villiform teeth . These teeth and long snout enable the gar to thrash its head to capture and hold prey .

Color:

The longnose gar is olivaceous brown to green dorsally fading to pale yellow or white ventrally. Color of specimen is dependent on the clarity of the water it is in. Longnose gar in clear water have a much deeper green color than those in murky water which will be more brown and drab. The longnose gar has spots on its dorsal anal and caudal fins. It also has spots on the dorsum of the body that do not extend onto the head . The margins of the scales and the spaces in between the scales are black. The young have a black stripe along the sides and are brown dorsally and white ventrally.

Size/Age/Growth

Gars are slow growing fishes that are relatively long lived. Newly hatched gars are 8 to 10 mm in length . Hatchlings attach themselves to vertically to submerged objects by an adhesive disc on their snout. Young remain attached by the adhesive disc until the yolk sac is absorbed (about 9 days). After the absorption of the yolk sac the young are able to remain horizontal, take their first aerial breath and begin feeding. Female gars get larger and live longer than male gars do. It takes female gars 6 years to reach sexual maturity and they can live up to 22 years old. Male gars mature at 3 to 4 years of age and rarely live longer than 11 years. Longnose gar can reach sizes up to 6 ft 8 in (2 m ) and 35 lbs . (16 kg ).

May live as long as 36 years in the wild, 30 years in captivity.

Habitat

Longnose gars usually occupy lazy slow moving streams , rivers , reservoirs , bayous , and estuaries. It prefers the sluggish backwater pools to the moving stream. Adults can be found floating near the surface of pools and sluggish streams. The young prefer to hide and hunt in backwaters around submersed vegetation. During mating season though adult longnose gar make short migrations up rivers and reservoirs into small clear quick moving streams in order to spawn and lay eggs .

Biome: Marine .

Biology

[ Back to top ]

Diet

Young longnose gar start feeding after about 10 to 11 days after hatching . Young crustaceans such as copepods , and insects. They quickly switch over to a diet of primarily fish. In Lake Texoma (Oklahoma), the young longnose gar diet consisted of over 80% inland silversides (Menidia beryllina) and less than one percent game fish . As adults longnose gar are primarily piscivores eating a variety of fish species, with their primary food species changing from area to area. Primary food fishes in many inland areas include sunfishes of the family Centrarchidae, and shiners of the family Cyprinidae. In Florida longnose gars feed primarily on gizzard shad (Dorosoma cepedianum), and bullhead catfish. In coastal areas, longnose gars consume large numbers of menhaden .

Long nose gars are ambush predators laying in wait or slowly stalking their prey . Longnose gars are primarily surface oriented feeders . The gars feed both day and night but are more active as night feeders. Gars attack their prey from the side. The wait until the prey is in range then lunge and thrash their head from site to side impelling they prey on their long needle sharp teeth. They then maneuver the prey in order to swallow it head first.

Reproduction

Reproduction takes place during the spring , from April to August depending on geographic region. Longnose gars migrate up into small, clear, faster moving streams in order to mate. Spawning occurs over gravel or weedy reas. During spawning longnose gar congregate together in small streams. One female is usually accompanied by 2 to 4 males, which swim along side at irregular intervals. Eggs are demersal and adhesive, they sink to the bottom after being released from the female and fertilized and attach to the substrate. The eggs hatch in 3-9 days depending upon water temperature .

Behavior

From October to April gars seek greater depths in order to rest for the winter. At this time they lie almost motionless. They do not surface for respiration and they stop feeding.[2]

Predators:

Larger fish predate young longnose gars . Due to larger size and ganoid scaling the adult longnose gar has very few predators . In southern regions of the longnose gar's range , it is preyed upon by the American Alligator (Alligator mississippiensis).

Taxonomy

[ Back to top ]

Synonyms

Esox osseus • Esox osseus Linnaeus • Esox osseus Linnaeus, 1758 • Esox viridis Gmelin • Lepidosteus ayresii Duméril • Lepidosteus bison Dekay • Lepidosteus clintonii Duméril • Lepidosteus copei Duméril • Lepidosteus crassus Cope • Lepidosteus elisabeth Duméril • Lepidosteus gracilis Richardson • Lepidosteus harlani Duméril • Lepidosteus horatii Duméril • Lepidosteus lamarii Duméril • Lepidosteus leptorhynchus Girard • Lepidosteus lesueurii Duméril • Lepidosteus louisianensis Duméril • Lepidosteus milberti Duméril • Lepidosteus mulberti Duméril • Lepidosteus otarius Cope • Lepidosteus piquotianus Duméril • Lepidosteus rostratus Cuvier • Lepidosteus smithi Duméril • Lepidosteus smithii Duméril • Lepidosteus thompsoni Duméril • Lepidosteus thompsonii Duméril • Lepidosteus treculi Duméril • Lepidosteus troostii Duméril • Lepisosteus gavial Lacepède • Lepisosteus gavialis Lacepède • Lepisosteus gracilis Richardson • Lepisosteus huronensis Richardson • Lepisosteus lineatus Thompson • Lepisosteus longirostris Rafinesque • Lepisosteus osseus • Lepisosteus oxyurus Rafinesque • Lepisosteus treculii Duméril • Macrognathus loricatus Gronow • Sarchirus argenteus Rafinesque • Sarchirus vittatus Rafinesque

Notes

Name Status: Accepted Name .

Last scrutiny: Data last modified by FishBase 23-Mar-1994

Similar Species

[ Back to top ]

Fish Name Mouth Body Pattern Lateral Line Scales Predorsal Scales Transverse Scales Similarity Index Longnose Gar Narrower snout with length about 15 times the width No spots on top of head or snout, but sometimes a few on jaw 60-66 47-55 17-24 N/A Shortnose Gar Beak-like with numerous sharp teeth. In top view the length from the eyes to the tip is about 5 times the minimum width No spots on top of head, snout or jaw 55-64 (usually more than 58) 45-54 20-23 Moderately similar Spotted Gar Not as long and narrow, with length about 5 times width Diffuse, dark, eye-sized or larger spots on top of head, snout and jaw (may be hard to see on head and snout in turbid or stained water) 54-59 45-54 (usually less than 50) 17-24 (usually less than 21) Moderately similar

Members of the genus Lepisosteus

ZipcodeZoo has pages for 6 species and subspecies in this genus:

L. oculatus (Shortnose Gar) · L. osseus (Long-Nosed Gar) · L. platostomus (Shortnose Gar) · L. platyrhincus (Florida Gar) · L. productus (Shortnose Gar) · L. spatula (Alligator Gar)

More Info

[ Back to top ]

Further Reading

[ Back to top ]

Notes

[ Back to top ]

Contributors

Data Sources

Accessed through GBIF Data Portal December 09, 2007:

Identifiers

Footnotes

  1. Jones, P.W., F.D. Martin and J.D. Hardy, Jr. (1978). Development of fishes of the Mid-Atlantic Bight. An atlas of eggs, larval and juvenile stages. Vol. 1. Acipenseridae through Ictaluridae. U.S. Fish Wildl. Ser. Biol. Serv. Program FWS/OBS-78/12. 33 ... [back]
  2. New Mexico Wildlife. New Mexico Department of Game and Fish Version of April 24, 2009. [back]
Last Revised: 7/14/2012