Amazing fish - armored pike. It can reach a length of 3 meters, and looks very similar to an alligator. As a result, it received its second name - alligator fish. It belongs to one of the 7 species of the armored pike family, and is its largest representative.
These fish live in freshwater waters in the east of the North and Central America, as well as in the Caribbean islands and o. Cuba. They prefer small warm bays, lakes and rivers, heavily overgrown with grass.
This fish has many names: gaspar, shellfish, alligator shellfish, ganoid. The appearance of the armored pike reminds us that time has no power over it. Today, these fish look the same as they did 150 million years ago, when they lived next to dinosaurs.
The fish has an elongated body, which is covered with durable scales, similar to a shell. The scales consist of two layers: inside there is a bone base, and outside there is a layer of ganoin, a kind of enamel that gives it smoothness and shine.
The armored pike can grow up to 3-3.5 meters in length, and the girth of its body is about 1 meter. These fish are heavyweights. They can weigh about 100 kilograms.
According to official data, the largest specimen reached a length of 291 centimeters and weighed 123 kilograms.
Due to the fact that fish live in troubled waters, she needs very good vision. Therefore, the fish's eyes are quite large. And its camouflage greenish-silver color allows it to remain unnoticed in the water.
Gaspar's mouth is very similar to the mouth of an alligator, just as long and armed with sharp teeth, which, like clockwork, enter the body of the prey.
The armored pike is the only fish on earth with such a long jaw. Its length can reach 30-45 centimeters.
Alligator fish are very voracious and are ready to eat incessantly. Her stomach stretches to such a state that it can hold up to 20 kilograms of fish. Females are especially voracious during the breeding season.
Small individuals hunt collectively. Having lined up in a ring, the gaspars drive a school of fish to the shore, and when the fish have nowhere else to swim, they pounce on it.
Gaspard meat is rarely consumed, but caviar should not be touched at all - it contains more toxic substances.
Shell pikes have been found on our planet since the Cretaceous period - about 200 million years ago. Fish fossils have been discovered in Europe and America. In the past, these fish were more common than they are today. Now there are 7 species of armored pike.
This ray-finned fish is a voracious predator, with a mouth full of sharp teeth. Its body is highly elongated and covered with thick scales, forming a real shell. The muzzle is pointed with long jaws. The anal and dorsal fin are moved far back towards the tail, forming a characteristic “pike” tail. The spotted color gives it an even greater resemblance to the common pike. This is where the similarity of the fish with freshwater (and saltwater) pike ends. Generally speaking, armored pikes are more similar to mud fish (Amiya or Bowfin). Armored pikes appeared on Earth long before their freshwater prototypes. Over the past 100 million years, they have remained virtually unchanged, giving scientists an idea of what some of the first fish on our planet looked like.
Sargans are not fastidious fish. Their air bladder can act like lungs - when the oxygen concentration in warm and stagnant fresh water is low, they can gulp atmospheric air. Thus, armored pike survive even where other, more fastidious fish do not survive. Moreover, scientists are inclined to think that garfish owe their survival for hundreds of millions of years precisely to their unpretentiousness to living and breeding conditions.
They try to stay in precisely such extreme conditions - in cramped and shallow bays, heavily overgrown with grass. Gathering in small flocks, they drift near the surface of the water, waiting for a random victim. They feed on fish and invertebrates, in particular crabs. The garfish does not display its skills as a good swimmer for public viewing. Outwardly sluggish, practically motionless, it is nevertheless capable of powerful and rapid acceleration behind its prey. True, such jerks do not last long.
The armored pike grows to a very decent size. The largest species of garfish is gar alligator, reaches 3 meters in length and weighs over 130 kg. The ferocious appearance also corresponds to the character of the fish - it is aggressive, sometimes even ferocious. When attacking another fish, it bites into the base of the victim’s head with its sharp teeth, biting it off with a quick swing of its mouth to the side. Then he returns to the immobilized headless body to finish his meal. In nature, cases of garfish attacks on humans have been recorded.
People rarely use this fish for food, although its meat is edible and is even sold in some markets in Central America. Basically, garfish are of interest only to sport fishermen who specialize in catching exotic fish. Fishing this giant is not a challenge for everyone. And finding armored pike in small, completely overgrown reservoirs, and even under the scorching sun, is quite a task.
Interestingly, some species of garfish are popular among marine aquarists. Of course, only small subspecies of armored pike are suitable for keeping at home. Keeping them in captivity is a test only for those who are most confident in their abilities.
Gaspard's appearance has remained unchanged since the time of dinosaurs, more precisely, for 150 million years.
The fossilized remains of these fish found during excavations indicate that they have remained virtually unchanged since those times. A creature with the body of a fish and the face of an alligator that lives in freshwater bodies of North and Central America. Gaspar can reach a length of 2.5 - 3 meters, a girth of one meter, and a weight of more than one hundred kilograms. Vintage photographs from the banks of the Mississippi and unverified rumors from those years claim that these parameters could be twice as large. However, the official data is as follows: length 291 cm, weight 123 kg.
One of its titles, " armored pike", Gaspar received because of the hard diamond-shaped scales, which cover the entire body, long and elongated, with a strong and smooth shell. The shell has a two-layer structure. There is a bone base inside, and the outside is smooth and sparkling, like ganoin enamel. Because of this feature, the scientific name of the family of these fish is “ ganoids" The mouth is elongated, like that of a crocodile, and is studded with sparse and sharp, needle-like teeth. For this feature, in America this fish is also called alligator fish. The similarity is truly striking. Since gaspar lives in bodies of water where the water is mostly cloudy, the eyes of this fish are quite large. The color is camouflage, with greenish-silver spots located throughout the body, including the fins and tail.
Gaspar (shell pike) lives in the swampy floodplains of warm rivers, with a low oxygen content, and therefore nature has provided it with respiratory system, somewhat reminiscent of the pulmonary system of modern animals. The fact is that the swim bladder of these fish is connected to the esophagus, which allows the gaspar to take in and release air from there, creating ventilation. This is a prototype of the breathing of all land animals, and perhaps gaspar is one of the links in the chain of species, along which one can trace the exit of animals from water to land.
Gaspar (shell pike) is an active predator. Its main prey is sick and weakened fish, which it hunts mainly from ambush, as the European pike does. However, unlike her, gaspars, especially small ones, can gather in flocks to hunt together. The principle of such a hunt is quite simple - gaspars, having formed a ring, push a school of young fish to the shore, and when they have nowhere to go, they attack their prey.
Observations of gaspars hunting made it possible to find another original way of hunting these tropical predators. Swim upstream for quite a while long distance, the gaspar floats downstream without paddling with its fins and tail, as if it were a tree branch or a log. As soon as a fish appears in his field of vision, an immediate attack follows. The similarity with the common pike is also the way it swallows prey. He first grabs the victim crosswise, then turns him over and swallows him head first. Large specimens can attack birds and small animals.
Despite their terrifying appearance, there have been no recorded cases of gaspar attacks on humans, although some conflicts with them have occurred. Thus, there is a known case when Gaspard bit the hand of a woman who was cleaning fish in the river. There are no cases of attacks on swimmers and fishermen with specific facts and evidence, except for rumors and legends that should not be believed.
Shelled pike is a valuable fishing trophy from the point of view of exotic and unusual appearance. Photographs and videos taken during fishing, as well as stuffed fish made by taxidermists, often decorate the homes and offices of sports fishermen. Gaspar meat has no gastronomic value, since it has many small bones and becomes dry and tough when cooked. In addition to everything, the entrails and caviar of gaspar are poisonous to humans and if you eat them, as well as if you cut them while cleaning this fish, you can get poisoned.
The best time to catch gaspar is considered to be March and April, although it can be caught with varying degrees of success all year round, including spawning time. Gaspar is caught mainly using natural bait, such as live bait, dead fish or pieces of fish. Since gaspar hunts mainly in the surface layers of water, fishing occurs at the top, with a shallow release of the float.
Catching gaspar is quite difficult, so fishing without a knowledgeable guide usually ends in failure.
Amazing fish - armored pike. It can reach a length of 3 meters, and looks very similar to an alligator. As a result, it received its second name - alligator fish. It belongs to one of the 7 species of the armored pike family, and is its largest representative.
These fish live in freshwater waters in eastern North and Central America, as well as on the Caribbean islands and islands. Cuba. They prefer small warm bays, lakes and rivers, heavily overgrown with grass.
This fish has many names: gaspar, shellfish, alligator shellfish, ganoid. The appearance of the armored pike reminds us that time has no power over it. Today, these fish look the same as they did 150 million years ago, when they lived next to dinosaurs.
The fish has an elongated body, which is covered with durable scales, similar to a shell. The scales consist of two layers: inside there is a bone base, and outside there is a layer of ganoin, a kind of enamel that gives it smoothness and shine.
The armored pike can grow up to 3-3.5 meters in length, and the girth of its body is about 1 meter. These fish are heavyweights. They can weigh about 100 kilograms.
According to official data, the largest specimen reached a length of 291 centimeters and weighed 123 kilograms.
Due to the fact that the fish lives in turbid waters, it needs very good eyesight. Therefore, the fish's eyes are quite large. And its camouflage greenish-silver color allows it to remain unnoticed in the water.
Gaspar's mouth is very similar to the mouth of an alligator, just as long and armed with sharp teeth, which, like clockwork, enter the body of the prey.
The armored pike is the only fish on earth with such a long jaw. Its length can reach 30-45 centimeters.
Alligator fish are very voracious and are ready to eat incessantly. Her stomach stretches to such a state that it can hold up to 20 kilograms of fish. Females are especially voracious during the breeding season.
Small individuals hunt collectively. Having lined up in a ring, the gaspars drive a school of fish to the shore, and when the fish have nowhere else to swim, they pounce on it.
Gaspard meat is rarely consumed, but caviar should not be touched at all - it contains more toxic substances.
