Gar id spotted or florida

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plausible;910559; said:
its now grown to 9inches and another one at 10-11inches
anyway how do you differentiate these two kinds?
i actually when to a lfs (where i usually but feeders)and asked theres one that showed me the spotted and florida kind and did a brief explaining but i still didnt get it the gars the have are small about 4inches only.



you meant aligator gar right:) well gator gars could easily ID-ed as theres only like only few different species of gators and their gator looks and features ,broad and short nose,thinner looking than other gar,and the 'im going to bite you!' look in the eyes.you could easily differentiate gator from shortnose gars.gators will grow to a bigger size much more bigger than other gars they are said to grow up to 10ft plus in the wild.:eek:




erm i dont really get you you've got pics?:D



hmm not so sure yet.
one of the gars i have have the aligator+shortnose/florida look
it have a different look in the eyes ,it have darker spots and a darker back and have a 'dark green base' colour on its back too
it have a short nose which is broad at the end near the eyes and sharper at the tip which gives it the crocodile look im guessing i got a hybrid at normal gar price i got it in a farm so its even cheaper



i post pics when i get my digi camera fixed:)

alligator gar is the species...so there is only one. i highly doubt you have a hybrid.
 
plausible;910899; said:
hmm im starting to belive its a florida gar
haha heres a pic of a hybrid

From you original pics that is a Florida gar (Lepisosteus platyrhincus)..There is little chance of a hybrid and if it is it would be a Oculatus X platyrhincus of which I'm not sure how you could truly figure that one out.

The Hybrid you posted above is actually a naturally occurring one Between the Alligator (Atractosteus spatula) and Longnosed (L. osseus)
 
its comfirmed spotted gar
there are no spots on the underside of the gar just white =)
and another point

'The Florida and spotted gars are distinguishable from each other primarily by the snout length. The distance from the front of the eye to the back of the gill cover is less than 2/3 the length of the snout in the Florida gar, while it is more than 2/3 of the length in the spotted gar. The Florida gar lacks bony scales on the throat.'
 
spotted sum times look like floridas but if u study them enough u can tell by the markingss and were they are o and those a floridas still great fish
 
Mine looks very similiar to those first pics. When I bought him he was labeled as a Florida spotted gar. I am assuming he doesnt have a bony throat plate because when he yawns or eats a large fish I can see the underside stretch out. Does the bony plate cover the entire underside of the throat area or is it just located in the center with connective tissue to the mandible?
 
I heard from people saying that the plates could only be seen by cutting it open.its on the inside most probably should be some where behind the eyes because its stated throat and those bones at the mouth area you were talking about its just something like part of the bones in the jaw.
its really confusing between the spotted and the FL gar lol!
good luck with yours =)
 
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