I was standing on pier #2 on Elm Lake Trail when a very large Gar appeared. I'd seen gars of various sizes in water before, but I'd never seen one
moving like this. My first guess is that it's some kind of maneuver for grabbing small prey. There were many small fish around the gar.  Aside from the first 2 images, these are all
frames from the video I filmed, which can be seen here.

Lung gas is expelled from the gill openings. Snout lifts again before bubbles disperse, to pull air into pharynx. Skull expands again  for this-as first bubble disperses.

As head submerges, the skull narrows as air is pushed from the pharynx into the lung.

  

About 40 minutes later, these gars were swimming upstream on the Spillway between Pilant Lake and Pilant Slough. Water flow is North to South, into the Slough. Gars will exploit
 flooded areas for spawning. I was happy to see these moving into Pilant Lake, which had been dry. Although most of the smaller gars I see at BBSP are Spotted Gar, I think the
one in images 3 and 4 below a different species.  Examine the video clip (mp4) to see all of them swimming against the current.

04/14/2024 (update 12/01/2024) -- This gar swam past fishing platform # 2 on Elm Lake. The dorsal fin is far along the back, near the tail.  I could see the massive wide head
through the surface glare. I captured video, even though the fish was mostly obscured by glare. It was at least 4 feet long.  Park visitors were also on the platform.  An Apex predator
in this place, a fish this large is will show signs of its passage through the water. After gulping air at the surface, the gar slowly turned and showed its back before submerging.
If I hadn't seen the movements before, the slow movement of the dorsal fin and back would have been easy to miss.  Examine the video clip (mp4) to see it in action. The video
clip shows the gar as it gulps air. Image 3 and 4 below are frames from the video showing the expulsion of lung air, and the snout lifting for the intake of fresh air.
 

 

06/05/2021-- I visit Fiorenza Park frequently . It's pretty close to home, it covers 362 acres, it has about 6 miles of trails and a wonderful collection of wildlife.
The weather was nice, and the high water was apparently enough to induce some Gar to spawn.  I could see one group of gar moving along the surface, and I tried to capture some video
or photos of them when they gulped air, or came up to the surface.  The water was murky as usual, so I couldn't see much below the surface. But, I watched them swim over submerged
portions of sidewalk, and over the low footbridge. I didn't get good photos, and even the frames from the video didn't work well...but some of the video clips came out ok.  I came to realize
that there were more than two fish involved--in fact there might have been 3 or 4 fish following the leader. I got only a few quick looks at them from the top--but when I did I saw a really broad
snout. I'm pretty sure that I was watching Alligator Gar (Atractosteus spatula)! Examine the video clip (mp4) to see them in action. It's possible that these are Shortnose Gar (Lepisosteus
platostomus), but that broad head makes me think otherwise.  When water temperature and depth is right, gar swim over flooded areas and deposit stick eggs on vegetation. The males 
which are swimming behind, fertilize the eggs.  That's what these gar seemed to be doing.
   
           FIRST VIEW, SWIMMING                                                  TAIL FINS SHOWING                                       GETING AIR--LOOK AT THE TEETH!                                         MORE TEETH

   
  BIG TAIL ON THE LEFT, FOLLOWED BY SMALLER                    BROAD SNOUT VISIBLE                                    ONE MORE BREAKING SURFACE

May 24, 2015-- We'd been getting rain, and water levels have been good at the park. Since it was wet this morning, I decided to drive down to Elm Lake. When I drove over the floodgate
at the end of Pilant Slough, I looked to my right--at where spillway that empties into Big Creek. What I saw there made me turn around, go back to the parking lot at the VC, and return with my
camera.  The concrete spillway empties into a gully, which empties after curving about 300 yards into Big Creek, which flows past and continues out past Hale Lake and eventually into the
Brazos River.  But, at the spillway, the water is relatively calm, and today it acted as a sort of "lagoon". And there, in the calm water of this lagoon, a large number of gar were swimming 
around. From time-to-time, the gar would come to the surface and--with a quick up-and-down of their head--gulp air.  I estimate that most of the gar swimming around were 12 to 18 inches
long.  We have at least 3 species of gar in the park--Short-Nosed Gar, Spotted Gar, and Alligator Gar. I was going to try to see if I could see any Alligator Gar among those in the collection.
Alligator Gar are separated from most other species of gar by a few physical differences. One of these (and not easily seen) is the *double* rows of teeth in their jaws. The other, is the 
broad, rounded shape to their snout. This broad head resembles that of an Alligator--which is a reason for the common name. But, it is also described in their taxonomic name-Atractosteus
spatula (nose broad and flat).  I watched in fascination as the gar moved about. I tried a few times to capture photos or video of them coming to the surface, so I could get a view of the top
of their heads. It was hard to get these views because the dark water prevented sighting of a gar until just before it broke the surface. I wondered if I'd be able to identify an Alligator Gar 
among these foot-and-a-half long fish.  But, before too long, I had my answer.  Through the circular ripples of the moving fish, I saw a looming lighter shape under the water.  It made its way to
the surface like a submarine, and then broke the surface.  As the head came up, water gushed out from the gill slits on each side. Then the mouth opened, closed, and submerged. The fish
leisurely followed, and took a while to fully submerge. The head was at least 8 inches long...JUST THE HEAD. I'd found an alligator gar! Did I have the camera ready? NO. 
However, I continued watching. The large gar were there among the others, and as time passed, I saw them surface many times. I have no way of knowing if I was seeing the same Alligator
gar...or the same few gars. But some of them were immense. I could not get close to the water, to get any certain measurement, but I think some of the gar could have been around 8 feet long.
 

 

I spent most of the day in that spot, watching those fish. I knew that this was a transitory, and relatively rare event (we rarely get water that high, in that spot), so I decided to make the most of it.
I shot many pictures, and short clips, trying to capture some images of those huge fish...and trying to get some footage that could give some sense of how large they were.
 

 

I didn't see anything that looked like feeding behavior. I didn't see any chasing, I didn't see any "bait" fish. I *did* see what seemed to be gar swimming in pairs--and a few times one surfaced,
and another surfaced right behind it.  All the splashing and activity finally attracted our other large aquatic predator--the Alligator Gar's namesake.  An alligator appeared from Big Creek. It 
was about 8 feet long, and moved leisurely towards the spillway. It encountered a stick about 5 feet long, and just pushed it along.I happened to be shooting video, trying to get some scale to
the scene.  As I was filming, the alligator suddenly leapt up and forward. It had gone for one of the surfacing gar, but missed. The alligator moved back among the wooded cover, and I lost sight
of it. I watched the gar until it was time to go home.  I've made two short video clips from some of the footage.  This clip was edited from footage shot at normal speed (30fps).  The alligator 
also appears in it:   Alligator Gar 05242015 (mp4 format)    The second clip is made from footage shot at 120 fps, and played back at 30; for slow-motion. These show the Alligator Gar 
gulping air at the surface. Unfortunately for me, while the camera was adjusted to lower light to "see" the fish under the surface; when the fish came out of the water, it was overexposed 
photographically. I tried to adjust this with software.  The slow motion clip is:   Alligator Gar 05242015 slow (mp4 format)    
I'd never encountered anything like an Alligator Gar until a dead one appeared in the spillway (not the same spillway we have now, but in the same spot) in 2002. I was able to salvage the 
skull from that fish, and I used it to prepare the exhibit that's in the Visitor's Center now.  That skull was about 12 inches long, from snout tip, to the rear of the head. The carcass-when I finally
found it-was as long as one of our John Deere gators; about 8 1/2 feet long. Since 2002, many things have changed. The internet has changed, and perception of the Alligator Gar has 
changed.  The story of the gar in 2002 can be seen on further down on this page.  Alligator Gar (Atractosteus spatula) have been a reviled, misunderstood species through much of its natural
range. So much so, that its natural range has dwindled over the years. Texas is one of the few states with a remaining healthy population of Alligator Gar, and TPWD has been studing this 
fascinating creature to better understand it.  That wasn't the case in the 1930's when a man named J.G. Burr created "The Electrical Gar Destroyer" and began using it in various bodies of
water. Others emulated him, and thousands of gar were killed (from what I could find, there is no mention of how many other animals died along with them).  But, things have taken a turn for
the better, and now much more is known about them.  One important fact is that it can take 40 years for a gar to grow to 8 feet long. Another is that Alligator Gar can only spawn when certain
circumstances occur: there must be ground flooding, and the temperature must be correct (at least 68degrees).  I believe that I was watching courtship or spawning today--especially when a
pair of gar would surface.  As I mentioned, Alligator Gar have 2 rows of teeth in their upper jaws, with the 2nd row in the roof of their mouth. They have a "vascularized" swim bladder--which
they can use to collect air and then get oxygen from it. Their skeletal system has a combination of bone and cartilagenous features--a sort of crossover from skeletons of sharks and those of
true "bony" fish. Gar are covered with thick, strong ganoid scales. They are opportunistic predators, and hunt many types of smaller prey, but most often eat "forage fish" like gizzard shad.
Claims that they decimate populations of game fish (such as bass) have turned out to be unfounded. Ongoing genetic studies have shown Alligator Gar to be most closely related to Bowfin
(Amia calva).--which ALSO live here in the park.  Alligator Gar are not only big, but very unique fish. And....they are just one of the creatures that live here in our park. And I got to watch a 
group of them swimming freely right here.
 

Here are some good links to information about Alligator Gar:  
This article in Texas Parks magazine:    http://www.tpwmagazine.com/archive/2015/mar/ed_3_gar/index.phtml
The general description on the TPWD site:  https://tpwd.texas.gov/huntwild/wild/species/alg/
and another page here:  http://www.fishesoftexas.org/taxon/atractosteus-spatula

There are many other pages, but these were related to fish in Texas. 

July 24, 2011 (added 11/09/2015) And another week later, and the Spotted Gar are still moving around. I continued shooting high-speed video, hoping to catch some hunting activity.
I still didn't see any. I did get another clip of breathing. I've manipulated this clip to show how quickly this happens, and also to slow it even more. 
The 10 images below are frame grabs from this video clip.
   

July 17, 2011 (added 11/06/2015) A week later, and the Spotted Gar are still moving around. I continued shooting high-speed video, hoping to catch some hunting activity.
But, I didn't see any. I did get a few more clips of them breathing.  This seems to be a 3-step process. First, the tips of the jaws break the surface and open briefly.
Next, air is expelled from the gill slits--usually in large bubbles. Then most of the head breaks the surface, and the jaws open and close again before the head
submerges.  As the gar sinks after this, a small trickle of bubbles leaks from the gill slits. the 10 images below are frame grabs from this video clip, which shows 2 surfacing events.
   

November  10, 2002 The image below (BOWFIN) is of an interesting "primitive" fish called a "Bowfin". The water at the park got very high. In fact the nearby Big Creek was so filled that
 the water from Pilant Slough, which normally flows out of the park, was flowing back INTO the park from Big Creek. As evidence of the amount of water we received, here it the fishing
 pier on Hale Lake, the deck of which usually stays at least 10 feet above water level (see HALE LAKE PIER, below).  This happened for about 2 days, until the water level dropped in
 Big Creek . As the water started flowing back out of Pilant Slough, other bodies of water were free to drain. 40 Acre lake started flowing back under the footbridge, and a few predatory
 fish stationed themselves in the sluggish flow. Among them were a few Bowfin, and a few Spotted Gar (see image below).
  These fish were about 15 inches long. It is interesting to me that these "primitive" fish both inhabit the park, right along with various perch, sunfish and bass. Of course, let's not forget the 
Alligator Gar! The image below (HEAD AND SPINE) shows my completed gar as it is now.
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                                BOWFIN                                                               SPOTTED GAR                                                      GAR HEAD AND SPINE                                               HALE LAKE PIER

October  20, 2002 A rather cool, wet weekend. However, on Sunday, some alligators showed themselves right after the sun finally came through the clouds.  On Saturday, we had the 
Volunteer Picnic at the park. During this, I'm proud to say, I received an award for "Outstanding Volunteer" from the Brazos Bend State Park Volunteer's Organization. Apparently, this was
due to votes cast by a number of volunteers. Thanks, everyone! I have a great time doing things at the park, and then I GET AWARDED FOR IT! Is that great, or WHAT? The image below
middle (RICKUBIS LIKES FISH)  shows some older guy, Rickubis(yes, that's me), attempting to reconstruct the spine of a very large Alligator Gar--on the dining room table. In fact, this is the
same gar I've talked about before.  So far, I've gone out on three occasions to dig and scrape and find these vertebrae. So far, I've found about 48. I'm not sure how many more there might be,
but I can't seem to find any more. I'm sure I have a large part of it.  The spine I can reconstruct is about 48 inches ,or 4 feet long. The image below right (LONG SPINE) shows what I have so far.
  Add the length of the head, about 20 inches, and I have 68 inches of a 96-inch long fish accounted for. I have no idea of the length of the tail spines, nor the distance between vertebrae. I'll see
if I can get a count of how many there are supposed to be

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---          -BY THE GATOR------              ------MY FOOT-M -----              --------TEETH

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