Description of Longnose Gar
The group of fish known as gars is a small and primitive family of fishes
represented in North Carolina by only one of the five North American species,
the longnose gar. The roe is poisonous to warm-blooded animals. The fish’s
armor-like scales make the gar safe from most predators. The gar is an ambushes
predator that makes its captures by lashing out sideways when prey fish
approach. Gar fish have many sharp teeth along their bony jaws. Hooking a gar
is very difficult unless the bait is swallowed. Longnose gar are rarely taken
for their food value. Like the bowfin, gar utilize an air bladder as an
auxiliary respiratory organ and can survive low oxygen conditions. They are
often observed porpoising at the surface of the water; a behavior associated
with their intake of air.
represented in North Carolina by only one of the five North American species,
the longnose gar. The roe is poisonous to warm-blooded animals. The fish’s
armor-like scales make the gar safe from most predators. The gar is an ambushes
predator that makes its captures by lashing out sideways when prey fish
approach. Gar fish have many sharp teeth along their bony jaws. Hooking a gar
is very difficult unless the bait is swallowed. Longnose gar are rarely taken
for their food value. Like the bowfin, gar utilize an air bladder as an
auxiliary respiratory organ and can survive low oxygen conditions. They are
often observed porpoising at the surface of the water; a behavior associated
with their intake of air.
Longnose Gar
![Picture](/uploads/1/9/7/0/19701521/1373127.jpg)
This Gar is a gar that a friend of mine caught on a jug line in Lake Norman last summer, the bait used was a live baitfish.