The shortnose gar (Lepisosteus platostomus) is a primitive freshwater fish of the family Lepisosteidae. It is native to the United States where its range includes the Mississippi and Missouri River basins, ranging from Montana to the west and the Ohio River to the east, southwards to the Gulf Coast. It inhabits calm waters in large rivers and their backwaters, as well as oxbow lakes and large pools. It is a long, slender fish, brown or olive green above and whitish below. It typically grows to about 60 cm (24 in) and is armored by rows of interlocking, rhomboidal ganoid scales.
The shortnose gar is an ambush predator, feeding mostly on fish, but also consuming crustaceans, insects, and other invertebrates. Breeding takes place in spring when females, often accompanied by several males, attach their eggs to clumps of submerged vegetation. The eggs, which are toxic to man, hatch after a week or so. After consuming their yolk sac, the young fish feed on insect larvae and small crustaceans, maturing at an age of about three years.
^NatureServe (2013). "Lepisosteus platostomus". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2013: e.T202411A18233754. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2013-1.RLTS.T202411A18233754.en. Retrieved 11 November 2021.
^Froese, R.; Pauly, D. (2017). "Lepisosteidae". FishBase version (02/2017). Retrieved 18 May 2017.
^Van Der Laan, Richard; Eschmeyer, William N.; Fricke, Ronald (11 November 2014). "Family-group names of Recent fishes". Zootaxa. 3882 (1): 1–230. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.3882.1.1. PMID 25543675.
The shortnosegar (Lepisosteus platostomus) is a primitive freshwater fish of the family Lepisosteidae. It is native to the United States where its range...
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Lepisosteus is a genus of gars in the family Lepisosteidae. Lepisosteus is known to be a freshwater fish. However, they do have the ability to survive...
gar-pike and sturgeon. Journal of Morphology 11, 1–53. Holloway A. (1954) Notes on the Life History and Management of the Shortnose and Lognose Gars in...
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Press. (2010) with Eric Hilton and William Bemis: Skeletal anatomy of the shortnose sturgeon, Acipenser brevirostrum Lesueur, 1818, and the systematics of...
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