Gar Identification - Post your Gar to be ID'd HERE!!

[Spiritofthesoul]

Looks like the spotted my LFS carry

 

[joe00]

Florida gars don't live North of the Apalachicola drainage. They hybridize with Spotted gar there-but not as far north as Southern Illinois-from what I have read. Pejelajarto and Spiritofthesoul think Spotted. Anyone else think the same without much doubt?

 

[Madding]

My first impression based on the picture and locale was spotted gar.

 

[E_americanus]

I do realiize that this picture is fairly lousy, but any help with an ID on this gar that came out of the Big Muddy River in Union county Illinois would be much appreciated! Thanks in advance!

this is a spotted gar. pattern, morphology, and collection locale all add up to spotted - not a longnose and not a hybrid. IL spots look just like this, with a "muddier" pattern to them. we caught some of these guys last year. nice fish--
--solomon

 

[Polypterus]

this is a spotted gar. pattern, morphology, and collection locale all add up to spotted - not a longnose and not a hybrid. IL spots look just like this, with a "muddier" pattern to them. we caught some of these guys last year. nice fish--
--solomon

Exactly....

 

[Wiggles92]

this is a spotted gar. pattern, morphology, and collection locale all add up to spotted - not a longnose and not a hybrid. IL spots look just like this, with a "muddier" pattern to them. we caught some of these guys last year. nice fish--
--solomon

Wow, I never realized that gars were that variable from locale to locale; all the pictures that I have found of spotted gars from both the northern U.S. and southern U.S. are fairly similar on the whole (minus some pattern differences and slightly different morphology). Based on those pictures, the build just seemed off to me for a spotted gar, but, as you can tell, I'm still learning about how variable these gars are.

 

[Dubeckyj]

Hi all! I picked up what was advertised as an alligator gar from my LFS. It was around 3.5" when I bought it over a week ago, and it's a hair under 4" now. It's eating a harlequin rasbora every 3-4 days. I can't match it up to juvenile photos confidently.

Can anybody get a positive ID on the species yet, or should I let it grow out a little more?

Thanks for the help!

-Dubeckyj

 

[E_americanus]

Florida gar--
--solomon

 

[pharmaecopia]

Florida gar, and at that size you should be letting it have constant access to food.

 

[Dubeckyj]

Florida gar, and at that size you should be letting it have constant access to food.

There are 3 more rasboras in the tank waiting to be eaten. My LFS ran out of feeders somehow.

Thanks for the ID guys, it makes me feel better knowing I won't need a private ocean for my new fish.