Shortnose gars, Lepisosteus platostomus, are an ancient species of freshwater fish. Their long mouths and prominent, pointed teeth, along with their other features, make them look prehistoric and rightfully so. The ancestors of today's gars swam in freshwater lakes at the same time that dinosaurs dominated the land, over 200 million years ago.

Of the seven gar species alive today, Illinois has four. Found mostly along the western and southeastern perimeter counties of Illinois, Shortnose gars, which grow to about 28” long, are not usually found in DuPage or Will County but live as close as Grundy County. Another species, the Longnose Gar, Lepisosteus osseus, is common throughout all counties of Illinois, and reaches about 31 inches. The very large Alligator Gar, Atractosteus spatula, which can attain lengths of 8 feet, was officially declared extinct in Illinois by the 1960s but was reintroduced in 2010 and now lives in the southern half of the state plus a swath of counties in middle. The fourth gar species, the Spotted Gar, Lepisosteus oculatus, grows to about 36 inches and is scattered throughout the western and southeastern counties of Illinois inhabiting some interior counties as well. All gars have elongated bodies which are covered with armor-like, diamond-shaped scales that do not overlap like most fish scales. They tend to live in warm, slow moving areas of rivers and lakes. To compensate for these low oxygen habitats, the gars' swim bladder, which helps them to maintain buoyancy, can also store oxygen supplementing what they get from their gills. If you see our gar rise to the surface, while opening and closing her mouth with a loud snap, she is gulping air. All gars are predators eating mainly other fish. But gars don't swim after their prey, they slowly creep up on unsuspecting fish, stalking them like a tiger.

Our tiger-like Shortnose gar has a scar through her scales on one side, prompting her last place of residence to call her, “Scarlet”. Introduced to our large aquarium in January of 2022, it took Scarlet a while to begin eating the frozen, but thawed, food we feed our aquarium inhabitants. We suspect that she was eating some of the smaller hybrid sunfish in the tank before she started actively taking the food we offered her! Her habitat of hanging near the top of the tank, motionless, means she is often overlooked by visitors to the nature center. But in the wild she would do the same thing, hanging out near aquatic plants and submerged logs, slowly stalking unsuspecting prey. Once gars catch their meals, with a quick sideways snap of their jaws, they wait until their prey stops moving and then turn it around to eat it head first. In the wild Scarlet would eat not just fish but crayfish and some insects as well.  

Due to their hard, bony jaws, gars seldom take a hook and special techniques are required to catch them. Gar are not considered game fish and often viewed as a nuisance by people who fish. But gar provide an essential ecological function as top predators, keeping other fish species in check which actually improves game fishery populations. Like all of our live animals on display, Scarlett is an ambassador for her species, and fish in general. She's a great example of an animal you don't usually see, or may not even know about, but is nonetheless an important part of our freshwater ecosystems.