The longnose gar (Lepisosteus osseus) is a fascinating and ancient fish species found throughout North America. Known for its elongated body, distinctive long, narrow snout, and diamond-shaped scales, the longnose gar is a formidable ambush predator. This article delves into the diet and feeding habits of this unique fish, exploring what it eats, how it hunts, and how its behavior changes throughout its life.
Physical Characteristics and Distribution
The longnose gar is easily identified by its slender body and its exceptionally long, narrow snout, which is the most elongated of all gar species. The least width of the snout goes about 15 to 20 times into its length, and the width of the snout at the nostrils is less than the eye diameter. These fish typically have dark brown or olive green backs and sides, often adorned with black spots on the fins and body, especially in clearer waters. Their bellies are usually white.
Longnose gar can grow to impressive sizes, normally exceeding 3 feet in length and often reaching over 5 feet. While their weight usually averages around 20 pounds, they have been known to reach up to 40 pounds. Females tend to grow faster and live longer than males, with males typically living between 11 to 17 years, while females can live upwards of 22 years.
These fish are most widely distributed gar in Missouri, probably occurring in every major stream in the state. They are commonly found in medium to large rivers, oxbow lakes, reservoirs, and estuaries. They prefer sluggish backwater pools to moving streams, often found near the surface in these areas. Young longnose gar prefer to hide and hunt in backwaters around submersed vegetation. The longnose gar's range extends from Central Florida up the Eastern Seaboard to the St Lawrence River in Quebec. It occurs in all of the Great Lakes accept for Lake Superior. It occurs in the lower Missouri River basin and Mississippi River drainage area. The longnose gar’s range extends south in rivers along the Gulf of Mexico from Florida all the way down into the Rio Grande River basin in Southern Texas and Northern Mexico.
General Feeding Habits
Longnose gar are primarily piscivores, meaning their diet consists mainly of fish. However, their food preferences can vary depending on their age, size, and the specific environment they inhabit. They are known to be surface-oriented feeders, preying both day and night, but are often more active during nighttime hours.
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Diet of Young Longnose Gar
Young longnose gar have different dietary needs and feeding strategies compared to adults. Newly hatched gars are quite small, measuring only 8 to 10 mm in length. Initially, they attach themselves vertically to submerged objects using an adhesive disc on their snout, remaining in this position until their yolk sac is absorbed, which takes about 9 days.
Once the yolk sac is absorbed, young gars begin to feed. Their initial diet consists of small crustaceans such as copepods and insects. However, they quickly transition to a diet primarily composed of fish. In Lake Texoma (Oklahoma), for example, the diet of young longnose gar has been found to consist of over 80% inland silversides (Menidia beryllina) and less than one percent game fish.
Small YOY (young of the year) longnose gars (under 2”) can be picky eaters and require a constant food supply. To ensure they get enough nutrition, they should be provided with mosquito larvae, small fish fry, and small crustaceans like Daphnia (water fleas). Once the young gars exceed 2”, they can be fed live foods such as feeder guppies and rosy reds. However, it's recommended to gradually wean them off these foods and introduce small pieces of fish fillet, market shrimp, or beef heart to transition them to a prepared diet. Eventually, you may want to try to get them to accept pellets to provide an even more balanced diet.
Diet of Adult Longnose Gar
As adults, longnose gar primarily consume a variety of fish species, with their preferred prey changing depending on the area they inhabit. In many inland areas, their primary food fishes include sunfishes (family Centrarchidae) and shiners (family Cyprinidae). In Florida, they feed primarily on gizzard shad (Dorosoma cepedianum) and bullhead catfish. Brown bullhead catfish are among the numerous prey items of the longnose gar.
Hunting Techniques
Longnose gar are ambush predators, employing a "wait-and-see" approach to hunting. They often lie in wait, remaining motionless until prey comes within striking distance, or slowly stalk their prey. They are primarily surface-oriented feeders. Gars attack their prey from the side, waiting until the prey is in range before lunging and thrashing their head from side to side, impaling the prey on their long, needle-sharp teeth.
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Habitat and Feeding Opportunities
Longnose gar typically inhabit sluggish pools, backwaters, and oxbows along large, moderately clear streams. They thrive in artificial impoundments, with adults usually found in larger, deeper pools, while young gars inhabit shallow backwaters, often around thick growths of aquatic vegetation. These habitats provide ample opportunities for ambush predation and access to a variety of prey species. Longnose Gar hold in shaded areas with overhanging tree limbs and submerged structures. Longnose Gar are obligate air breathers, allowing them to survive in brackish waters and in areas with low dissolved oxygen.
Reproduction and Early Life Feeding
Reproduction in longnose gar takes place during the spring, from April to August, depending on the geographic region. They migrate up into small, clear, faster-moving streams to mate, spawning over gravel or weedy areas. During spawning, longnose gar congregate together in small streams, with one female usually accompanied by 2 to 4 males.
The eggs are demersal and adhesive, sinking to the bottom after being released and fertilized, attaching to the substrate. Larger fish predate young longnose gars.
Fishing for Longnose Gar
Sport fishers primarily target longnose gars when looking for a thrilling and challenging catch. This fish species is highly powerful and jumps like a tail-hooked tarpon when you hook it. Sight-fishing is often the best way to catch one. Look for fins sticking out of the shallow water, then cast past the tail of the fish. No matter how you catch it, remember it has very sharp teeth.
The summer months are ideal for longnose gar fishing, as they are more active and easier to find around dawn and dusk. These freshwater fishes are found primarily in the sluggish river delta. Flowing water hotspots are dam and lock tailwaters, sandbar channel abuttals, outside stream bends, and the mouth of inflowing tributaries. When it comes to the lakes, fish can reach the woody edges and weedy cover.
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Heavy tackle is recommended for giant longnose gar that weighs 20 pounds or more. A 30-80 pound test line, a sturdy reel, and a stout rod are ideal. However, for smaller gar, a durable rod and reel along with a 20-pound test line might be sufficient. Experienced anglers use many feet of steel as insurance against the violent thrashing and sharp teeth.
Fishing topwater plugs are a popular way to enjoy gar fishing, but it requires patience. When you spot a longnose gar close to the surface, get the baitfish-imitation plug in front of it. Make sure that the lure is motionless other than minor twitches. If it is feeding actively, the fish will propel itself towards the bait with a flick of its fin. There isn’t going to be a headlong dash for the plug; instead, the gar will move slowly, thinking that it is disguised as a log or stick. Avoid moving the lure as you see the fish swimming towards it. When the bait stays still, the gar will move forward until your lure is close to its head. The gar remains as long as the lure is motionless, but with the slightest wiggle, the gar will give a jerk and grab the prey.
Conservation Status and Human Interactions
In many areas, the longnose gar is viewed as a nuisance fish, blamed for eating sportfish. Due to their large teeth, they pose a threat of cuts or lacerations, so caution should be taken during handling. The longnose gar has been extirpated in some of the peripheral areas of the northern parts of its range.
However, they are commercially fished in Arkansas and are bowfished and occasionally sportfished locally. Some people also consume gar meat fried or smoked.