New Gar...
- Thread starter E_americanus
- Start date
Okay, here's my reasoning for my ID (some of it is pretty obvious, but it may not be obvious for someone new at this):
The jaws, eyes, and general build of this gar do not match any of the Atractosteus gars, so the alligator gar, Cuban gar, and tropical gar are out. On to the four Lepisosteus gars...
While pattern is a terrible thing to base an ID on, I know that their patterns are pretty variable depending on the water clarity, so I'd wager that this particular one is originally from a fairly clear body of water. Another thing that I would like to point out is that the spots are the wrong color for it to be a spotted gar or a Florida gar, so those two are out. On to the longnose gar and shortnose gar.
Now I looked at the caudal peduncle (part of body that the caudal fin [tail] is attached to), specifically the length of the caudal peduncle. Said caudal peduncle seems to be too short to be that of a longnose gar, so therefore this gar is a shortnose gar and one with a nice pattern to boot.
On a side note that might interest you, Solomon, I believe that I may have found a picture of one of your hybrid gar's brethren while searching for pictures of shortnose gars to compare to this gar.
The jaws, eyes, and general build of this gar do not match any of the Atractosteus gars, so the alligator gar, Cuban gar, and tropical gar are out. On to the four Lepisosteus gars...
While pattern is a terrible thing to base an ID on, I know that their patterns are pretty variable depending on the water clarity, so I'd wager that this particular one is originally from a fairly clear body of water. Another thing that I would like to point out is that the spots are the wrong color for it to be a spotted gar or a Florida gar, so those two are out. On to the longnose gar and shortnose gar.
Now I looked at the caudal peduncle (part of body that the caudal fin [tail] is attached to), specifically the length of the caudal peduncle. Said caudal peduncle seems to be too short to be that of a longnose gar, so therefore this gar is a shortnose gar and one with a nice pattern to boot.
On a side note that might interest you, Solomon, I believe that I may have found a picture of one of your hybrid gar's brethren while searching for pictures of shortnose gars to compare to this gar.
Hi all, will write more later as I only have mobile right now. Rest assured that Richard and I went through all the usual diagnostics, I am yet to hear from him on the video footage though. Ockam's razor says the simplest explanation is most likely the correct one, and that is likely the case here. There are, however, unusual traits that warrant further investigation. Luckily, we have a surefire way of doing that!
Again, more later. And Ryan, that other pic looks like pure gator gar to me; somewhat unusual pattern, but gator gar and not hybrid (def not SNG as they have labeled)--
--solomon
Again, more later. And Ryan, that other pic looks like pure gator gar to me; somewhat unusual pattern, but gator gar and not hybrid (def not SNG as they have labeled)--
--solomon
E_americanus;5090099; said:
Genetic testing is cheating in this game of identifying gars!
As for the alligator gar, I thought it might be a hybrid because it looked similar to old photos of your hybrid, but now that I look at it again I realize that it doesn't look quite so similar beyond the unusual pattern. And here I just said in my last post that pattern isn't a good way to ID most unknown gars...
will try to post some other photos in the relative near future...graduation ceremonies are tomorrow, so that will take up my time over the next day or so!
one thing to note - if you look closely, the caudal peduncle is a bit too stocky and short to be a LNG, but slightly longer and a bit narrower than a SNG...again, could just be an unusual fish, but its characteristics definitely seem odd.
unfortunately origins are still relatively unknown, i talked to the LFS today and the guy who traded it in had just been in earlier that day (LFS told him - when asked about the gar - that it went to a good home of a gar-fanatic, haha) - only new info is that the original owner had the fish from when it was initially about 6-9" long. will continue to try and find out more!--
--solomon
PS-- and yes Ryan, we will "cheat" however is necessary
PPS-- meant to mention this before, but paired fins scream a single species (if we are looking at typical specimens)--
one thing to note - if you look closely, the caudal peduncle is a bit too stocky and short to be a LNG, but slightly longer and a bit narrower than a SNG...again, could just be an unusual fish, but its characteristics definitely seem odd.
unfortunately origins are still relatively unknown, i talked to the LFS today and the guy who traded it in had just been in earlier that day (LFS told him - when asked about the gar - that it went to a good home of a gar-fanatic, haha) - only new info is that the original owner had the fish from when it was initially about 6-9" long. will continue to try and find out more!--
--solomon
PS-- and yes Ryan, we will "cheat" however is necessary
PPS-- meant to mention this before, but paired fins scream a single species (if we are looking at typical specimens)--
E_americanus;5090702; said:will try to post some other photos in the relative near future...graduation ceremonies are tomorrow, so that will take up my time over the next day or so!
one thing to note - if you look closely, the caudal peduncle is a bit too stocky and short to be a LNG, but slightly longer and a bit narrower than a SNG...again, could just be an unusual fish, but its characteristics definitely seem odd.
unfortunately origins are still relatively unknown, i talked to the LFS today and the guy who traded it in had just been in earlier that day (LFS told him - when asked about the gar - that it went to a good home of a gar-fanatic, haha) - only new info is that the original owner had the fish from when it was initially about 6-9" long. will continue to try and find out more!--
--solomon
PS-- and yes Ryan, we will "cheat" however is necessary
PPS-- meant to mention this before, but paired fins scream a single species (if we are looking at typical specimens)--
Hmm... Well, I'm interested to hear what the DNA testing turns up for the ID of this gar since it's so unusual that normal methods of identifying it aren't as reliable.
E_americanus;5090099; said:
Even with video I think the simplest answer is likely the correct but we will certainly know more in time. ReGardless it is a very unusual and interesting one. Just goes to show there are some interesting Gar out there.
And somehow we seem to end up with them
Pejelajarto;5091489; said:Even with video I think the simplest answer is likely the correct but we will certainly know more in time. ReGardless it is a very unusual and interesting one. Just goes to show there are some interesting Gar out there.
And somehow we seem to end up with them
So what species of gar do you think it is?
