Alligator Gar

Alligator gars, ''Atractosteus spatula'', are ray-finned euryhaline fishes related to bowfin in the superorder Holostei . The fossil record traces the existence of alligator gars back to the Early Cretaceous over a hundred million years ago. They are the largest in the gar family, and among the largest freshwater fishes in North America. Gars are often referred to as "primitive fishes", or "living fossils" because they have retained some morphological characters of their earliest ancestors, such.. more