Gar, spotted Lepisosteus oculatus

Winchell, 1864

LEPISOSTEIDAE FAMILY


The spotted gar can be found from the Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico down through the Mississippi River drainage system. It occurs all along the Gulf coast from central Texas to the western portion of the Florida panhandle. East of the Apalachicola drainage, in the remainder of Florida, the spotted gar is replaced by its closest relative, the Florida gar (L. platyrhincus). Both species occur in the Apalachicola drainage itself, where they are believed to hybridize to some extent. In the north of its range, it occurs eastward to the north and south shores of Lake Erie in northern Ohio, Michigan, and Ontario, but is not known to occur much west of Illinois

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