Longnose Gar

The longnose gar is a torpedo-shaped, ganoid-scaled fish of eastern and central North American waters, recognizable by jaws drawn into a needle-thin snout nearly three times the length of its head and lined with sharp, cone-shaped teeth. It lives in freshwater lakes, brackish coastal waters, swamps, and slow river backwaters, and can gulp air at the surface to survive when oxygen levels drop. Growing to as much as 1.8 meters and 25 kilograms, it hunts mostly at night, feeding on small fish and occasionally insects or crustaceans, with adults facing few predators besides alligators and humans. Its genus has persisted in North America for roughly 100 million years.