7 8 Memoir Sears Foundation for Marine Research 



This peculiar coloration may be indicative of a hemorrhagic condition that is easily 

 produced by exposure and rough handling before preservation. 



Young individuals, colorful with various shades of brown to black, and white to 

 cream. Broad dusky or dark brown band on the side of body, extending from snout 

 through eye to base of caudal fin ; upper margin of band scalloped, the elevated portions 

 fusing into an interrupted stripe of reddish brown or cinnamon. A narrow mid-dorsal 

 stripe of similar color. Ventral surface of small young chocolate colored on midbelly 

 and bordered above on either side by a milky to cream stripe, the dark coloration dis- 

 appearing in larger young and leaving only a narrow ventrolateral stripe. All fins more 

 or less spotted or blotched with dark brown, the dark color of fins usually in the form 

 of bars on pelvic, dorsal, and anal. 



Size. The maximum size of osseus is about 1,500 mmTL. Abbott gave a length 

 of five feet for a specimen speared in Crossweelssen Creek, New Jersey (jj: 270). The 

 28 specimens collected from July 1953 to February 1955 from Lake Pontchartrain 

 were 541— 1,180 mm TL. 



Spawning and Development. The early life history of L. osseus is quite well known 

 (A. Agassiz, J [1878]; Mark, ^5). The more extensive studies were made by Wilder 

 {yi: 155-163; 72: I— 12, 192, 195, 10 figs.), Balfour (6: chap. 6), Balfour and Par- 

 ker (7), and Eycleshymer (2j). Agassiz has described the spawning activities and early 

 development of the Longnose Gar of Black Lake, New York {i [1879]: 6^—^^, 

 5 pis.), and many illustrations represent the developmental stages of the fins and ad- 

 hesive organs. The adhesive organs on the ventral surface at the tip of the snout on 

 newly hatched fry are used for attachment to objects above the bottom silt. Although 

 larvae are relatively inactive until the yolk supply is absorbed, they are capable of very 

 rapid movements when disturbed. At three weeks of age the yolk has been used, and 

 the adhesive organs are reduced to a small swelling. 



The following data give an approximation of the size of individuals at the time 

 of atrophy of the fleshy caudal appendage projecting from the upturned end of the 

 vertebral column. A caudal appendage has been observed at the following lengths: 191, 

 219, 233, 245, 260, and 271 mm.; but none was seen on specimens of these lengths: 

 266, 268, 271, 274, 284, and 286 mm. Wilder's observation of a 300-mm specimen 

 with the caudal appendage nearly atrophied is in line with measurements given above. 

 Our largest specimen (271 mm) is actually 323 mmTL when the caudal fin length 

 is added. Apparently no one has yet determined the maximum age attained by Gar- 

 fish, but numerous specimens have been kept in aquariums for a number of years. 

 Mark, who kept L. osseus for nearly 3^/2 years in aquariums at Cambridge, obtained 

 the material from Black Lake, New York, when it was in early stages of segmen- 

 tation {45: 5). 



Food and Feeding. The Longnose Gar usually waits for its prey to get within "easy 

 reach" and then, with a sudden thrust, grasps the victim (Abbott, jj: 269, 270). 

 The prey is often held crosswise in the mouth for several minutes before it is swal- 

 lowed. In the brackish waters of Lake Pontchartrain, this Gar feeds on various fishes 



