Classification
Longnose gar, Lepisosteus osseus, are fish that are found from
the Northern most great lake to the Mississippi delta and almost
every river and lake in between (Goddard). With a habitats
range that is so diverse, one might assume that longnose gar are a
type of super adaptive organism that is fresh faced to this world.
This however could not be further from the truth. In fact longnose
gar are referred to as “living fossils” by multiple sources because
its lineage has been traced back over 100 million years (“Large unusual fish,”). However due to the fact that the longnose gar is such an old
species very few other fish can be classified in the same category
as it.
Domain—Eukarya
Organism has
cells with a true nucleus and organelles
Kingdome—Animalia
Organism is
heterotrophic and multicellular
Phylum—Chordata
A
deuterostome animal with a notochord.
Class—Actinopterygii—
A fish
possessing Fin rays. Ray fins are flaps of skin supported by bone
spines or horns and are located on the sagittal plain of the fish.
Order—Lepisosteiformes
Definition of
Gar-like Fish: Body and Jaw are both elongated with Mouth contains
needle like teeth, heavy armored scales, and a vascularized swim
bladder (allows for aerial respiration)
Family— Lepisosteidae
Same as
Lepisosteiformes
Genes—Lepisosteus
Same as
Lepisosteiformes
Species— Lepisosteus osseus
The longnose
gar. Lepisosteus in Greek roughly translates to “boney scale” due to
the fish’s very hard scales.