Black or dark FL gar

[E_americanus]

The snout seems to be fairly wide in comparison to all of the picture I have viewed of you Florida gars. It looks like a young alligator gar to me, but let's let the experts tell us for sure.

I noticed that it has at least one of it's eyes, so it being melanistic is questionable considering that most true melanistic gars tend to lack eyes, so I'm not 100% sure on if it's melanistic or not.

i agree in that we need better pics as the shape does look a little off for a typical FL gar, but that could just be the camera angles or the photo quality. if it were a gator it may just be a relatively dark one, but given what we have to work with i would lean more toward melanistic FL gar.

that being said, the whole "eyes missing-causing melanism" is a ridiculous explanation (not putting that on your Ryan, i just remember an unfinished discussion in one of the threads with others about this sometime back...it's just unfortunate that the idea still lurks around). melanism has nothing to do with whether or not these gars have eyes or not. if anything the examples of the blind gars that were all dark was coincidence as they were found in habitats with plenty of eye-eating fishes. i've seen plenty of gars with no eyes that were normally colored, and if anything a gar that thinks the surroundings are all dark should lose most of its pattern, not darken it--
--solomon

 

[Kr0wn]

looks wicked.

 

[toni-tjio]

what colour is the slime? looks pretty promising

I take off this gar then put in the toilet paper then

So I think the slime have brown colour
then the colour of this gar is fade like this

so is it dark or black?

I hope this photo is clear enough

I take this photo after put him in 2,5 liter (0,5 g) aquarium

 

[E_americanus]

i would say melanistic gar, most likely Florida. its snout and body shape are a little strange, but this is consistent with the overly in-bred gars that they have in south-east Asia. also, when unusual gars like this are found on the farms, they are often given special treatment which leads to strange developmental patterns and increased fat bodies/deformities.

good specimen, make sure to feed him a healthy diet (do not overfeed) and keep us posted on how the fish progresses!--
--solomon

 

[Lepisosteus platyrhincus]

^i agree.

melanistic.

why is all the people breeding these in freakin asia? native american fish but we arnt freakin breeding them.

 

[E_americanus]

^i agree.

melanistic.

why is all the people breeding these in freakin asia? native american fish but we arnt freakin breeding them.

we are breeding them, it's just that we are breeding them for research here in the US...mainly because there is nowhere near the demand for the fish as pets as there is in Asia. they are also breeding them in central America and Cuba for research/conservation/food...pets are not the primary focus by any means--
--solomon

 

[Younglin]

Check for the double row of teeth. Kind of looks like a young alligator gar to me. But the body makes me think Florida so I'm not sure.

 

[Kr0wn]

Check for the double row of teeth. Kind of looks like a young alligator gar to me. But the body makes me think Florida so I'm not sure.

hang on... so your saying if they have two rows of teeth, they are gators? i don't think so... mine are definitely floridas and they have two rows of teeth. but you are right when you point out that the head looks like a gator.

 

[Madding]

It's not a gator, it's a florida, and all gars have two rows of teeth.

 

[toni-tjio]

i would say melanistic gar, most likely Florida. its snout and body shape are a little strange, but this is consistent with the overly in-bred gars that they have in south-east Asia. also, when unusual gars like this are found on the farms, they are often given special treatment which leads to strange developmental patterns and increased fat bodies/deformities.

good specimen, make sure to feed him a healthy diet (do not overfeed) and keep us posted on how the fish progresses!--
--solomon

Thanks for the opinion and explanation

^i agree.

melanistic.

why is all the people breeding these in freakin asia? native american fish but we arnt freakin breeding them.

thanks

Check for the double row of teeth. Kind of looks like a young alligator gar to me. But the body makes me think Florida so I'm not sure.

hang on... so your saying if they have two rows of teeth, they are gators? i don't think so... mine are definitely floridas and they have two rows of teeth. but you are right when you point out that the head looks like a gator.

It's not a gator, it's a florida, and all gars have two rows of teeth.

Thanks for answer this "Madding" for the head I think E_americanus have been aswers " see up these "