Longnose gar

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Longnose gar
At the New England Aquarium
Conservation status
Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Actinopterygii
Clade:	Ginglymodi
Order:	Lepisosteiformes
Family:	Lepisosteidae
Genus:	Lepisosteus
Species:	L. osseus
Binomial name
Lepisosteus osseus (Linnaeus, 1758)
Synonyms[2][3]
list Esox osseus Linnaeus, 1758 Psalidostomus osseus Linnaeus 1758 Psalisostomus osseus Linnaeus 1758 Acus maxima Catesby 1771 Acus squamosa Catesby 1771 Acus viridis Catesby 1771 Esox viridis Bonnaterre 1788 ex Gmelin 1789 Lepisosteus gavial Lacepède 1803 Esox niloticus Perry 1811 Lepisosteus stenorhynchus Rafinesque 1818 Sarchirus vittatus Rafinesque 1818 Sarchirus argenteus Rafinesque 1820 Lepisosteus longirostris Rafinesque 1820 Lepisosteus oxyurus Rafinesque 1820 Lepisosteus gracilis Richardson 1836 Lepisosteus huronensis Richardson 1836 Lepidosteus rostratus Cuvier 1836 Lepidosteus bison DeKay 1842 Lepisosteus lineatus Thompson 1842 Macrognathus loricatus Gronow 1854 Lepidosteus leptorhynchus Girard 1858 Lepidosteus crassus Cope 1865 Lepidosteus otarius Cope 1865 Lepidosteus ayresii Duméril 1870 Lepidosteus clintonii Duméril 1870 Lepidosteus copei Duméril 1870 Lepidosteus elisabeth Duméril 1870 Lepidosteus lesueurii Duméril 1870 Lepidosteus harlani Duméril 1870 Lepidosteus horatii Duméril 1870 Lepidosteus lamarii Duméril 1870 Lepidosteus louisianensis Duméril 1870 Lepidosteus milberti Duméril 1870 Lepidosteus piquotianus Duméril 1870 Lepidosteus smithii Duméril 1870 Lepidosteus thompsonii Duméril 1870 Lepisosteus treculii Duméril 1870 Lepidosteus troostii Duméril 1870

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.^[4] 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.

They have an olive brown to green, torpedo-shaped body armored with ganoid scales, elongated jaws that form a needle-like snout nearly three times the length of its head, and a row of numerous sharp, cone-shaped teeth on each side of the upper jaw.^[5][6] They typically inhabit freshwater lakes, brackish water near coastal areas, swamps, and sluggish backwaters of rivers and streams. They can breathe both air and water, which allows them to inhabit aquatic environments that are low in oxygen.

Longnose gar are found along the east coasts of North and Central America, and range as far west in the US as Kansas, Texas, and southern New Mexico. They are the only species of the family Lepisosteidae found in New Mexico. Their populations are stable and in some areas abundant in the interior portions of their range.^[5]