CHAPTER LVIIX 
THE ORDER OF GAR FISHES, OR GANOIDS 
GINGL 
To the scientific student, the Gar Pike of the 
middle eastern states, and the big Alligator 
Gar of the Gulf states are two of the most inter- 
esting fishes of our whole finny fauna. They 
are the living representatives of a wonderful lot 
of dead-and-gone species which many thousand 
years ago laid the foundations of the fish world. 
By means of the impregnable bony armor with 
which Nature wisely provided them, they have 
been able to withstand the attacks of the enemies 
that otherwise would have exterminated them. 
The simplest, and therefore the earliest, forms 
of fishes are some of the Gan'oids, — as the ar- 
mored fishes are called, — whose remains now exist 
only in the rocks of the Devonian 
age, far down toward the strata which 
were formed before life was. The 
first of these fishes — and they were 
well-nigh the first of all fishes — had 
their heads completely encased in 
solid bone, their eyes were placed in 
the tops of their heads, and they must 
have lived upon the bottom of the sea. And who 
shall say how many years have passed since the 
days when their dead bodies sank in the mud 
along the shores they frequented? To-day they 
are found high up in the rocky cliffs of Devon- 
shire, England. 
It must be remembered, however, that the ar- 
mored fishes were not the only ones which existed 
in those early days. The same rocks have yielded 
to science the remains of lung-fishes, sharks, and 
sturgeons; but the so-called “bony fishes” of to- 
day were undoubtedly of later development than 
the foregoing. 
Our two Gar Fishes are therefore to be regarded 
as living relics of the Devonian age, or “Age of 
Fishes. ” There are others ; but for an introduction 
to them, as well as the fossil forms, the reader is 
referred to Le Conte’s “Geology.” 
The Long-Nosed Gar Pike 1 is the species 
1 Lep-i-dos'te-us os'se-us . 
YMODI 
which is nearest at hand, and most accessible to 
teachers and students. It is found in the great 
lakes, and in large streams generally from New 
Jersey to Mexico, and northward in the Mis- 
sissippi valley to Minnesota. It is frequently 
called the Bill-Fish and the Gar. It is said to be 
destructive to the young of other fishes, but Dr. 
Goode declares that fish remains are “rarely 
found in its stomach.” Its flesh is unfit for food, 
and, except to educators, the fish is valueless. It 
is said to attain a maximum length of from 5 to 6 
feet, but specimens exceeding 3 feet are very rare, 
and the majority are certainly under that length. 
The armor of this fish is more perfect than any 
plate armor that man could make for it. It con- 
sists of diagonal whorls of solid and highly polished 
plates of bone, each divided into scale-like sec- 
tions, and so hinged together that while fully pro- 
tected the fish has abundant freedom of move- 
ment. The dried skin of a Gar Pike is as hard and 
unyielding as a cylinder of sheet iron. 
In about the same waters as the preceding 
species,' and very much like it, lives the Short- 
Nosed Gar Pike ( Lepidos'teus platys'tomus). 
The Alligator Gar 2 is a giant in comparison 
with both the above species, sometimes attaining 
6 feet in length. It is essentially a fish of the 
South, and inhabits the large streams — and also 
many small ones — of all the Gulf states, Mexico 
and Cuba. It is readily recognized by its short 
and broad snout, which is strongly suggestive of 
the head of an alligator. 
As an instance of the manner in which fishes 
2 Lep-i-dos'te-us spaCu-la. 
LONG-NOSED GAR PIKE. 
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