Ohio has a variety of fish that have qualities that are considered ancient, retained from their ancestors, such as armored scales, jawless mouths, and a lack of paired fins. One such fish with ancient qualities is the Longnose Gar, in the Lepisosteidae family. A native Ohio fish, it has thick ganoid (diamond-shaped) scales that act like armor plating to protect them from other predators and an elongated, narrow snout full of sharp teeth. They look like the fish version of a crocodile and are just as deadly to their prey. They reach impressive sizes for a freshwater fish (the Ohio record is 25lbs and 49inches in length – Outdoor Writers of Ohio, 2017), and are terrifically successful ambush predators. With their heavy armor, they can’t sustain fast swimming besides a quick burst, so they lie in wait until small fish and minnows swim near and then they snatch them up with their formidable jaws. Their body coloration helps break up the shape of their body with the spots and blotches, similar to the way tigers and leopards use their coloration to their advantage in their habitats. They also display a type of coloration called countershading, which means they have a lighter stomach and a darker back. From below, the color of their stomach will allow them to blend in with the sky and from above, their back color allows them to blend into the substrate (Sea Grant 2013). On another interesting note, Longnose Gar have poisonous roe (eggs). According to Burns & Stalling (1981), Longnose Gar roe shows negative effects on humans, lab mice, and domesticated animals. Their personal testing on natural predators of the roe showed it had a 77% mortality rate on crayfish (similar gar species had more or less of the same effect), but nothing noticeable happened to the bluegill that ate the roe. The crayfish that didn’t succumb to the poison still showed behavioral effects within 30 seconds to 4 minutes (depending on the species of gar roe eaten). The researchers noted that it made sense the crayfish were more susceptible since the timing of gar spawning coincided with peak crayfish young abundance. This would reduce the mortality of the gar spawn. Overall, this makes them deadly from egg to adult; truly an impressive species.
PHOTOS SOURCE
Lyons, J. (2013). Longnose Gar. University of Wisconsin Sea Grant Institute. Accessed November 2017 (http://www.seagrant.wisc.edu/home/Default.aspx?tabid=605&FishID=83)
REFERENCES
Burns, T. A., & Stalling, D. T. (February 16, 1981). Gar Ichthyootoxin: Its Effect on Crayfish, with Notes on Bluegill Sunfish. The Southwestern Naturalist, 25, 4, 513-515.
Outdoor Writers of Ohio State Record Fish Committee (2017). Current Ohio Record Fish. Outdoor Writers of Ohio. Accessed November 2017 (http://outdoorwritersofohio.org/ current-ohio-record-fish/).
University of Wisconsin Sea Grant Institute. (2013). Longnose Gar. Accessed November 2017 (http://www.seagrant.wisc.edu/home/Default.aspx?tabid=605&FishID=83)