A number of juvenile longnose gar were stuck in the fences near the Trinity, likely trying to return to the main river after feeding in the flooded areas. It was a bittersweet sight, as their untimely death allowed me to observe their impressive, armor-like scales and mouths full of sharp teeth. Certain Native Americans groups used gar scales as arrowheads, and even as protective breastplates.
Most of the gar caught in the fence were around two feet long; I left eager to see one of the 6-foot adults living in the Trinity. Gar are often called “living fossils” as they have remained virtually unchanged for the last 100 million years (since the late Cretaceous)! The ancestors of these gar shared the world with T. rex and velociraptors. It seems almost fitting to have attention drawn to all these guys now that “Jurassic World” is in theaters.
source: national geographic
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