Shortnose Gar
Lepisosteus platostomus
About This Fish

The Longnose Gar is found throughout the Mississippi River Drainage, including the Tennessee and Cumberland river drainages, Great Lake drainages in Wisconsin, as well as Gulf Coast drainages in Louisiana. They live in a wide range of habitats in pools and backwaters. Like all gars, they have a hard protective scales (ganoid scales), are ambush predators, and are able to gulp air for supplemental oxygen. As the common name suggests, Shortnose Gars have a short, broad snout.