logic for these conclusions:
1 - shortnose - this is probably the toughest or second toughest ID in the bunch. we don't have the head of the fish or this would be easy. the caudal peduncle is a little thicker than what we see in a lot of shortnoses, but i'm writing that off to variability and captivity issues. the caudal fin is also shredded and almost looks like it has Cuban-esque striations, but there are two other issues that suggest shortnose to me - the body is much more slender than a Cuban...and we can guess that since the other Cubans in this tank are big and fat, this fish should also look that way if it were Cuban. also the length of the pelvic fins...shortnose gars are really the only gars with really long paired fins, and those pelvics suggest shortnose to me.
2 - Cuban - easy ID on 2 & 3 as Cubans if you look at the keys or any of the Cuban gar photos from members.
3 - Cuban
4 - Florida - this is just what a typical, fat, captive FL gar looks like. spotted gars at this size will have a somewhat different looking pattern and body proportions. that and we have very little evidence of confirmed spotted gars coming out of Asia at this point, and comparing them to the wild spots...Florida gar seems like the logical ID.
5 - shortnose - note the shortnose characters i mentioned for #1; we also see the head, which has a short snout but not terribly broad like Atractosteus genus. body also virtually pattern-less and slender.
6 - Florida - see earlier FL ID for 6,7,8
7 - Florida
8 - Florida
9 - Cuban (melanistic) - this is probably the toughest of the bunch...and i gave some clues earlier when i was talking about #9. this fish can only be a tropical or Cuban gar as a gator would have a different look to it in head/snout proportions. it's clearly Atractosteus based on the stout body and very broad snout. i think Cuban because the snout just looks Cuban to me...hard to explain, but it seems broader than what we see on most tropical gars. i wouldn't be terribly surprised if it were a melanistic (or just darker tropical...as we have seen males tend to get upon maturity) tropical, but i'm going with melanistic Cuban for my answer.
10 - longnose - longnoses typically don't show this pattern at this size, but they are also the only gars i have seen that show this type of pattern at this size. also note the very slender body and longer thinner caudal peduncle. even without the snout this fish indicates longnose gar on several levels.
i'm open to others' thoughts, hope those comments help!--
--solomon
***was actually writing this while you guys posted after my answers...hopefully this fills in the logic/reasoning from my end..***
