Gar ID Quiz - ID the fish - The Quizzes & Answers

[xander]

Some older quizzes

Quiz 11 by Solomon David aka e_americanus




hey everyone, sorry for the delay...was at a field class over the weekend. i gotta head out again soon, so this will be brief:

thanks to everyone for guessing, so very good answers! here are the correct ID's starting with the top left, and going clockwise (not including the sets of fins on the right top and bottom edges) :

-alligator gar
-tropical gar
-tropical gar
-spotted gar (very bottom center)
-Cuban gar (roughly centered)
-longnose gar

outer edges: top right - Cuban gar, bottom right, shortnose gar

the closest correct answer was neil, aka city of evil...only the specification between Florida/spotted was missing...oh yeah, that and the whole having trouble with right and left

nice job, we'll see what we can do for the next one!--
--solomon

ps-- and yes, kara, there are now 6 species in that tank...actually a much higher species richness than Gar-Den II!--

 

[xander]

Quiz 12

gar 1


gar 2


group shot

bonus: there's something wrong with one of the fish in this pic, can anyone guess what it is?


pic 4


thanks for guessing everyone! most of you were right, i guess im too predictable...

well since the quiz was easier than expected...

gator- from this pic, id trait would be blotchy pattern.

florida gar

group shot- florida, gator, cuban, florida, cuban

bonus- the cuban under the florida has a dark colourations, usually a sign that the fish is stressed.

i can't figure out why thou, the two other cubans i have have been fine for months. however, this is my newest cuban and was severly starved before i bought it, perhaps it's still not completly recovered?

cuban- very broad snout, much stockier body. florida- mid sized gape & overall less stocky body-indication of lepisosteus species, you can deduce florida from ruling out longnose & spotted by width of snout, and shortnose by 'other' qualities.(i do believe we'll get a chance to discuss it soon)

cuban-colour & stritation markings on the tail.

 

[xander]

Quiz 13 by Solomon David aka e_americanus









this one was a tough one from the beginning as i didn't show a live fish, and at that you really only had the head/jaws. this one would have been a challenge even for those of us who have worked with gars for many years. here are some diagnostics to look for given the photos:

from photo 1 jaws/partial head shot:
- you can at least see that there is a relatively short/medium snout, so you can rule out longnose.
- you can see there is a second row of teeth that is larger than what you would see in Lepisosteus gars, but still not quite as prominent as Atractosteus gars...this may lead some to look at something in between the genera (aka hybrid between the two). that being said, it's still a tough call.

photo 2 flank
- moderately stocky body reaffirms the elimination of longnose from the pool
- the pattern on the body eliminates Cuban gar (Cubans have very minimal pattern)
- spots are blotchy, which still leaves gator, tropical, Florida, spotted...but in most cases would eliminate shortnose as by this size they have more striations in the posterior. the blotches are a little big for a typical gator, however, and a little too numerous and large for a typical tropical gar (although trops have a highly variable pattern). the double row of teeth from the previous pic should more or less have eliminated pure Lepisosteus gars.


Photo 3 & 4
- head shows intermediate length snout...having eliminated Lepisosteus genus fish, this leaves tropical (we already eliminated Cuban) since gators would have a much shorter snout at this size. but given the body shape...
- it's much more slender than a typical tropical
- you can see some of the striations that you would see on a shortnose toward the posterior, and ALL of this becomes more evident in...

the final photo (live fish)
- you can see here that the snout is intermediate length and width
- there is a combo of the juvenile spotting that gators have, but also the posterior dorso-medial striations that a shortnose would have
- the color is also more orange-brown, which you would not see in a tropical in most cases.

FINALLY - the bonus...anyone have a guess?

nice job to everyone who guessed!--
--solomon

 

[xander]

hint, this may or may not be one of my fish.

View attachment 574886

 

[Madding]

hehe, any explanations for the guesses so far?

Mostly the color and Cubans seem to have more of an underbite from what I've seen. The way the bottom teeth sort of hang over the sides in a comical way looks just like mine. Also the broadness of the snout.

I don't know if its actually a scientific trait or not, just something that catches my eye with Cubans.

 

[E_americanus]

ok we all know the last quiz was a Cuban by now (even though xander didn't post the answer, the replies more or less explained it, AND we have the photo posted in the gar ID thread to back it up).

here is the latest...please state your answer AND why you think it is such...good luck!--
--solomon

 

[E_americanus]

ok all, here is the info and "answer":

- you've all learned quite a bit and made the best guesses possible! perhaps (as xander included in his guess) it's also somewhat of a track record of putting up "exotic" representatives from a pretty small family overall.

- i sent this photo to richard the day before posting it as well; i came across it through a connection to some colleagues and am in the process of finding out more details. so no, i unfortunately don't have this fish (not that we really have space for it anywhere, haha), and this is another researcher in the photo.

- the fish is, in all likelihood, a crocodile gar "type III" - gator x longnose cross. they do look pretty different from the juveniles we have pictured on LEP.net and primitivefishes.com, but as fish age (particularly in wild conditions) they will look quite different. the croc II is a good example of long-term tracking of pattern changes in a hybrid.

- the fish in the photo would be a naturally occurring example of a gar hybrid, and this is definitely one project (of many) that we would like to tackle in the near future (finding out more about these fish and how consistently they occur and where).

- in terms of diagnoses, it basically looks like a gator in terms of pattern, but the jaws are a little too long (yet too short for a big longnose). the fins are slightly different, but the head is really the giveaway (fins can be quite variable). it truly is an impressive specimen...i hope to get back to Shedd Aquarium to check on theirs in the near future too.

onward to the next one - and thanks to all for their excellent responses!--
--solomon