Wooha! Living fossil!

What if one of these suddenly showed up in let's say, a lake connected to the Mississippi River? Wooaha

www.fieldandstream.com...

World Record Alligator Gar Pulled From Mississippi Lake Tangled in Fisherman's Net

Alligator Gar prehistoric living fossil, holy crap, this one beats lampreys a million times. Hope they don't go extinct because people hunt them down for their appearance.

When I was little, my dad used to pull 4 and 6 footers out of Little River in Colquitt Co. Southern Georgia all the time.

Talk about a fight, those things were ridiculous.

They are common on the Texas Gulf Coast. I have caught them 6 and 7 foot long. They are actually pretty good eating, but very hard to clean. Their skin is tougher than you would believe. You have to use a chainsaw or a circular saw to get to the good part. I have seen one kick sparks off of a circular saw blade. Probably make some bad ass armor out of one.

a reply to: Utnapisjtim

Pretty cool, hope they post some different angles of animal

a reply to: skunkape23

From reading the editor's notice I got the impression these were nearly extinct? Common? Anyway, I'd probably need another pair of pants if I ever caught one. Damn, that's a BEAST!

a reply to: skunkape23

American Indians used the scales as arrow heads and the jaw bones as saws. They are as tough as it gets.

originally posted by: Utnapisjtim
a reply to: skunkape23

From reading the editor's notice I got the impression these were nearly extinct? Common? Anyway, I'd probably need another pair of pants if I ever caught one. Damn, that's a BEAST!

Yeah your probably correct with your impression. I think it was the long nose gar that my Dad used to catch and is probably what is more common in Texas as well. The Alligator Gar has a shorter/broader snout and the more I remember about those fishing trips some 20+ years ago that the ones he wrestled out of the river had longer narrower snouts.

originally posted by: Utnapisjtim
a reply to: skunkape23

From reading the editor's notice I got the impression these were nearly extinct? Common? Anyway, I'd probably need another pair of pants if I ever caught one. Damn, that's a BEAST!

They don't seem to be anywhere near extinct in these parts. I've read that they used to have a broader range but have been eradicated in some parts of the country.

a reply to: skunkape23

Are they in any way dangerous? What does it eat? As in, people or bitumen rolls? What is that thing? The Leviathan?

Alligator Gar prehistoric living fossil

The language we use to describe things seems a bit much ,don't you think ? Pre historic started when ? A fossil is what ? It's amazing that we can claim in one sentence so many contrary facts .Not really I guess when you see such statements showing up in scientific papers all the time and people repeating them as though they were facts ...Good post though .Can you imagine that thing being hungry and someone wanting to do a little swimming .I wonder just how big they can grow ? a reply to: Utnapisjtim

Wow, That would eat you up...Is their any records of them attacking Humans, they have the tools and the power.

a reply to: the2ofusr1

It's called figure of speach. Abstract thinking stuff.

originally posted by: Utnapisjtim
a reply to: skunkape23

Are they in any way dangerous? What does it eat? As in, people or bitumen rolls? What is that thing? The Leviathan?

From watching the "Fish On" guy Jeremy something, it seems there were late 1800's newspaper articles about them attacking people swimming. They certainly look like they wouldn't be scared of a human, that's for sure....

Funny that it's supposedly a world record, yet the article doesn't once mention it's size. Even though the picture shows them measuring it with a tape measure.

Still pretty cool though!

originally posted by: chrismarco
a reply to: Utnapisjtim

Pretty cool, hope they post some different angles of animal

Same Critter

30 someodd pics just for you

originally posted by: Soloprotocol
Wow, That would eat you up...Is their any records of them attacking Humans, they have the tools and the power.

I've never heard of one attacking a person. You do want to be careful if you catch one and it's flopping around. Those teeth will lay you open.

The term "living fossil" is an oxymoron, and can't exist.

originally posted by: pavil

originally posted by: Utnapisjtim
a reply to: skunkape23

Are they in any way dangerous? What does it eat? As in, people or bitumen rolls? What is that thing? The Leviathan?

From watching the "Fish On" guy Jeremy something, it seems there were late 1800's newspaper articles about them attacking people swimming. They certainly look like they wouldn't be scared of a human, that's for sure....

Reports from the 1800's, ok. I guess we can assume they are relatively peaceful creatures then. Looks like Midgardsormen or something! Dragonscales...

Maybe wild caught Alligator Gar are getting rare ? I know they are/were a pretty commonly stocked fish with fish wholesalers who supply retail pet shops. They have been stocking them in a national wild life preserve in Missouri since 2007.

in southeast Missouri, they're everywhere here. seen them as large as up to 8feet