Garpike
| Gar Temporal range: Late Cretaceous–Recent |
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| Spotted gar (Lepisosteus oculatus) |
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| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Actinopterygii |
| Subclass: | Neopterygii |
| Infraclass: | Holostei |
| Order: |
Lepisosteiformes O. P. Hay, 1929 |
| Family: |
Lepisosteidae Cuvier, 1825 |
| Genera | |
Atractosteus
Lepisosteus
†Masillosteus [1]
Gars (or garpike) are members of the Lepisosteiformes (or Semionotiformes), an ancient holosteian order of ray-finned fish; fossils from this order are known from the late Cretaceous onwards. The family Lepisosteidae includes seven living species of fish in two genera that inhabit fresh, brackish, and occasionally marine, waters of eastern North America, Central America and the Caribbean islands. Gars have elongated bodies that are heavily armored with ganoid scales, and fronted by similarly elongated jaws filled with long, sharp teeth. All of the gars are relatively large fish, but the alligator gar (Atractosteus spatula) is the largest, as specimens have been reported to be 3 m (9.8 ft) in length; however, they typically grow to 2 m (6.6 ft) and weigh over 45.3 kg (100 lb). Unusually, their vascularised swim bladders can function as lungs, and most gars surface periodically to take a gulp of air. Gar flesh is edible and the hard skin and scales of gars are used by humans.
The name gar was originally used for a species of needlefish (Belone belone) found in the North Atlantic and likely taking its name from the Old English word for "spear".Belone belone is now more commonly referred to as the "garfish" or "gar fish" to avoid confusion with the North American gars of the family Lepisosteidae. Confusingly, the name "garfish" is commonly used for a number of other species of the related genera Strongylura, Tylosurus and Xenentodon of the family Belonidae.
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