spotted or florida gar?

[Slippery K]

Ok so I went into my lfs the other day and they had two tanks with gars in them. First tank was clearly needlenose gar, and the second was labeled spotted/marble gar. Now iv always wanted a florida gar for my rcks 180gal which I told the sales guy. He then told me if I bought a marbled/spotted gar it would "turn into" a florida gar. As much as I wanted to laugh in his face I didnt because I know some people call their fish florida spotted gar, but fish dont change species.

So my question to you gar keepers out there is - are spotted/marble gar just another common name for florida gars? Or a different fish? Sorry I dont have a pic to show, when I go back ill bring my camera and post a pic. They were around 6" give or takr a little. They were mostly brown with like a solid black stripe running down length of body , does that sound like a baby florida without a pic to id?

Ps. Pretty sure most the employees at my lfs have very low IQ's.

 

[HungDang]

99.9% of gars that labeled spotted gar are Florida gar. True spotted gar is really rare in the hobby, those fish most likely are Florida gar not spotted.
Spotted gar and Florida gar are 2 different gar species, they look mostly the same with very minimal different that only people with a lot of experience can ID them!

 

[Slippery K]

That doesnt answer my question about the marble gar. They were listed as spotted marble not floridas and did not look like small floridas iv seenbefore. They were literaly all solid brown with a black stripe, no spots or white belly that floridas have. If there still in stock next time im there ill get some pics.