Longnose gar (Lepisosteus osseus) is a freshwater, brackish species recorded in the United States. It is found at depths of ≥ 0 m.
Scientific name: Lepisosteus osseus · Water: Freshwater, Brackish
Size: up to 200 cm
The longnose gar is a demersal lepisosteid that occurs in sluggish pools, backwaters and oxbows of medium to large rivers, as well as in lakes, usually near vegetation, and it occasionally enters brackish water. It is a facultative air-breather and a voracious predator that feeds on various fishes and crustaceans, and it migrates up rivers during the spawning season, spawning in fresh water and possibly in slightly brackish water; the eggs and larvae are demersal and adhesive. The roe is poisonous. Reports differ on the risk, so check an authoritative source before eating it. Its range is North and Central America: the Atlantic slope from the Delaware River in New Jersey to central Florida, the St. Lawrence River in Quebec through the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River basin to the Red River in North Dakota and south to Louisiana, and the Gulf slope drainages from central Florida to the Rio Grande. It is recorded from the surface, with no maximum depth recorded, and maximum length is about 200 cm total length; it can live 36 years, maturing at about 67 cm. It is a minor commercial species, a gamefish and is kept in public aquariums. Fishing vulnerability is high at 63 of 100 and resilience low. IUCN lists it as least concern.
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