longnose gar

Lepisosteus osseus

Spiral valve within intestine

Tropical
Regional distribution
Atlantic Ocean
Central America and the Caribbean
North America
Elongated
Large
Tropical fish

The longnose gar (Lepisosteus osseus), also known as longnose garpike or billy gar, is a ray-finned fish in the family Lepisosteidae. The genus may have been present in North America for about 100 million years. References are made to gars being a primitive group of bony fish because they have retained some primitive features, such as a spiral valve intestine, but they are not primitive in the sense of not being fully developed.

Class: Gars and Bowfins
Order: Gars
Family: Lepisosteidae
Genus: Lepisosteus
Maximum length: 200 cm
Body shape: elongated
Distribution: North and Central America: Atlantic Slope from Delaware River in New Jersey to central Florisa; St. Lawrence River in Quebec through Great Lakes and Mississippi River basin to Red River (Hudson Bay basin), North Dakota, and south to Louisiana; Gulf Slope drainages from central Florida to Rio Grande drainage in Texas and Mexico.
Conservation status: LCLeast Concern

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