Aurelialight reminded me that I've been remiss in not posting enough on one of North America's most notable fish. Behold the alligator gar. I never thought that that a creature with the species name of spatula could be frightening, but I was wrong. The alligator gar comes with several distinctive characteristics:
1) It is the largest of all gars, growing to 8 - 12 feet, with a record weight of over 300 lbs (the largest was caught in the Rio Grande River).
2) It is also the largest exclusively freshwater fish in North Americ, where it stalks the waters of the South Eastern US and Mexico.
3) It is able to breath air, and can survive 2 hours outside of water.
4) It is an aggressive carnivore and has been known to attack humans.
Photo source: CoastalThings.com
May 19, 2008
Scary Spatula
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8 comments:
What an amazing creature, I swear to God.
Fishie looks so happy here, coming out of the darkness. This picture actually brightened this godawful business trip I'm on. He just wants to love and be loved and eat your feet.
Maybe it's things like this that stopped me from ever learning how to swim.
Awww...That's so sweet.
It's definitely things like that that keep me out of un-chlorinated water!
We used to swim and water-ski in the bayous and see these swimming around.
I had a job last year that required me to wade around in the Lower Mississippi watershed. Before the job started, I made the mistake of going to a local natural history museum. They had a diorama of what lurks under the water, with stuffed, mounted specimens of alligator gar, alligator snapping turtles, and of course, alligators. I then realized hip waders are not all that protective.
I can see how that would sap some of your enthusiasm, kyla.
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