Alligator Gar, Battleship fish of the Bayous

Alligator Gar attacks a school of large catfish in Resaca Rancho Viejo

Ancient suburban swamps harbor an incredibly tough collection of critters as we say here in the South. Here at the southernmost tip of Texas the ancient swamps greatest battleship is the prehistoric relic of DNA, the infamous and mysterious Alligator Gar. iNaturalist listing

These two words separated conjure vicious attack speed rapacious appetite and deadly accuracy but combined we need to add the superlatives of gargantuan overkill and armor to match. To call an Alligator Gar a fish is to thoroughly miss the point that somehow a conscious organism with this tool set is actively prowling the rivers and shallow waterways we often overlook with labels such as ditch or drainage. Far from that these areas are active pools of superfast adaptive evolution where new ideas are often chastised with early death and old ideas like Gars still somehow persist. They have gills but breathe air like a frog releasing gulps of gas in exchange for a fresh gulp from the surface.

The Alligator Gar is an undisputed freshwater goliath that grows to massive proportions by fulfilling an instinctive skill of prowling on all types of water, land and air dwelling organisms easily up to the size of the large healthy catfish seen as prey in these rare photographs of an Alligator Gar in action during the early morning hours.

It is the hope of this author that sharing these rare experiences here can motivate us to come together in a common bond of awe and respect for these miraculous beasts that inhabit the world with us and we continue to protect them.

See Alligator Gar: Predator or Prey?

Alligator Gar, Resaca Rancho Viejo, Texas

Alligator Gar feeding catfish, Resaca Rancho Viejo, Texas

Alligator Gar feeding on catfish, Resaca Rancho Viejo, Texas

Alligator Gar coming up for air and a look around

Nature is abundant with magical creatures of legend and lore easily up to par and beyond the grasp of the words we use to describe them. However in reality these pictures do not do this phenom of a being any justice compared to the price of its existence for millennia in suburban swamps way down south by Mexico way.

Record Monsters Live Here