Re: NANFA-- Unusual information about gar.

Christopher Scharpf (ichthos_at_charm.net)
Sat, 07 Sep 2002 08:36:48 -0400

Color variants are not uncommon among gars. A snow-white (but not albino)
alligator gar was kept at the Dallas Aquarium in the 1970s and 1980s; it
reportedly arrived with normal pigmentation and then bleached out while on
display. A "bright golden orange" Florida gar was kept at the Miami
Seaquarium in the late 1950s. Golden spotted gar have also been reported.
Black-pigmented gars are often associated with the tannin-stained waters of
pinelands and cypress swamps.

Chris Scharpf
Baltimore

> From: Rgpme_at_aol.com
> Sent: Friday, September 06, 2002 7:28 PM
> To: nanfa_at_att.net
> Subject: Unusual information about gar.
>
>
> Thought your group might be interested in knowing about a fish my son
> caught: a 4 foot long gar that is solid gold/orange and white. NOT the
> usual gar colors.
>
> I called a fish research lab here in Oklahoma and they told me that they had
> seen the same color pattern on trout, catfish, and black fish, and it was a
> genetic mutation caused by lack of certain colors in the cells.
>
> Anyway, I imagine not many other people have caught a gar of that color: it
> was a real shock seeing a 4 foot long alligator gar that is colored like a
> tropical goldfish from a pet store!!!!
>
> My son took picture and is having it mounted. If he ever catches another,
> he hopes he can keep it alive somehow.
>
> Mrs. Price, rgpme_at_aol.com
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