page_title: Alligator gar
section_title: Sport fish
hierarchical_section_title: Alligator gar / Human uses / Sport fish
caption_attribution_description: TA&amp;M Research Project on Gars of the Brazos River system.
context_page_description: The alligator gar is a ray-finned euryhaline fish related to the bowfin in the infraclass Holostei. It is the largest species in the gar family, and among the largest freshwater fishes in North America. The fossil record traces its group's existence back to the Early Cretaceous over 100 million years ago. Gars are often referred to as "primitive fishes", or "living fossils" because they have retained some morphological characteristics of their earliest ancestors, such as a spiral valve intestine, which is also common to the digestive system of sharks, and the ability to breathe both air and water. Their common name was derived from their resemblance to the American alligator, particularly their broad snouts and long, sharp teeth. Anecdotal evidence suggests that an alligator gar can grow up to 10 ft in length.
  The body of an alligator gar is torpedo-shaped, usually brown or olive, fading to a lighter gray or yellow ventral surface. Their scales are not like the scales of other fishes; rather, they are ganoid scales, which are bone-like, rhomboidal-shaped scales, often with serrated edges, and covered by an enamel-like substance.
context_section_description: The long-time public perception of alligator gar as trash fish or a nuisance species has changed, with increasing national and international attention on the species as a sport fish, which some have attributed to features on popular television shows. Oklahoma, Texas, Arkansas, Mississippi, and Louisiana allow regulated sport fishing of alligator gar. Texas has one of the best remaining fisheries for alligator gar, and in concert with its efforts to maintain a viable fishery, imposed a one-per-day bag limit on them in 2009. The Texas state record, and world record for the largest alligator gar caught on rod and reel, is 279 lb (127 kg), taken by Bill Valverde on January 1, 1951, on the Rio Grande in Texas. Alligator gar are also quite popular among bowfishers because of their large size, trophy potential, and fighting ability. The Texas state bowfishing record was set in 2001 by Marty McClellan with a 290 lb (130 kg) alligator gar from the Trinity River. The all-tackle record was a 302 lb (137 kg) alligator gar caught on a trotline in 1953 by T.C. Pierce, Jr. In 1991, fishing guide Kirk Kirkland anecdotally reported catching an alligator gar measuring 9 ft 6 in (2.90 m) on rod and line from the Trinity River.
caption: A 6 ft (1.8 m) 129 lb (59 kg) alligator gar caught in Texas, 2004
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