Gar
Gar bodies are elongated, heavily armored with ganoid scales,
and fronted by similarly elongated jaws filled with long sharp
teeth. Their tails are heterocercal, and the dorsal fins are
close to the tail. As their vascularised swim bladders can
function as lungs,most gar surface periodically to take a gulp
of air, doing so more frequently in stagnant or warm water when
the concentration of oxygen in the water is low. As a result,
they are extremely hardy and able to tolerate conditions that
would kill most other fish.
All the gars are relatively big fish, but the alligator gar is
the biggest.
Gar tend to be slow moving fish except when striking at their
prey. They prefer the shallow and weedy areas of rivers, lakes,
and bayous often congregating in small groups. They are
voracious predators, catching their prey with their needle-like
teeth, obtaining with a sideways strike of the head. Gar feed
extensively on smaller fish and invertebrates such as crabs. Gar
are found across all of North America. Although gar are
primarily found in freshwater habitats several species enter
brackish waters and a few are sometimes found in the sea.
Gar in Oklahoma