English: Gars; Garpike.
Synonym: Semionotiformes.
Genera: 2; 7 species; 1 family Lepisosteidae.
Region: eastern North America, Central America, Cuba.
Habitat: fresh, brackish, and occasionally marine waters.
Use: Gar flesh is edible; quarium fish; hard ganoid scales of gars for jewelry; tough skin for lamp shades, covered of plow blades; gar scales as arrowheads; skin for breastplates.
Culture: ritual garfish dances; gar eggs are highly toxic.
ZoologyFish; unusually, their vascularised swim bladders can function as lungs, periodically to take a gulp of air; hard skin and scales.
Form: elongated bodies; heavily armored with ganoid scales; fronted by similarly elongated jaws filled with long, sharp teeth.
Size: relatively large, up to 2 m, to 3 m; over 45 kg.
TaxonomyLepisosteiformes is an ancient holosteian order of ray-finned fish; fossils from this order are known from the Late Jurassic onwards.