A baby alligator gets a helping hand as he emerges from his egg at Errol Falgout’s farm in Larose. Alligators typically start hatching in August.
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Alligator-hatching season in full swing
A baby alligator gets a helping hand as he emerges from his egg at Errol Falgout’s farm in Larose. Alligators typically start hatching in August.
Sunday, August 10, 2008
Friday, August 1, 2008
Alligator bites arm off
An 11-foot-long alligator bit off an 11-year-old boy's arm at the shoulder.
The boy, and two girls were playing in a body of water around 3 p.m. at a subdivision near Slidell, about 20 miles northeast of New Orleans, when the alligator swam toward them and pulled the boy under, said Sheriff Jack Strain.
The alligator pulled Devin under water and bit off most of an arm, but the boy poked it in the eye and got free, relatives said.
The two girls with him made it to shore, ran for help and called 911. Three sheriff's deputies on patrol drove as far as they could toward the lake, then ran the final stretch — 1 1/2 miles — to reach the boy, Strain said.
The deputies helped the boy out of the water, and he was taken by 4-wheeler to a staging area where an ambulance picked him up and transported him to Slidell Memorial Hospital.
Later, the youngster was transported by helicopter to Ochsner Foundation Hospital in Jefferson. Strain said the boy was "fighting for his life."
"Our enforcement people reported the alligator had been shot," said Bo Boehringer, spokesman for the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries. "The good news is the alligator was in an enclosed body of water and could not escape that area."
WDSU-TV in New Orleans reported the arm had been recovered but the sheriff's office did not immediately confirm that.
Alligator attacks in Louisiana are rare, said Noel Kinler, manager of the state Department of Wildlife and Fisheries' alligator program. He said there was one last year, and two in 2005 and 2004, none serious.
"Typically an alligator is pretty docile," Kinler said. "But we take every chance to warn people that they need to be careful around them, especially large alligators."
Kinler speculated that an alligator as large as the one that attacked Funck might have mistaken the boy for something it would normally feed on.
"I can't say for sure, but certainly a young boy splashing his arms around could have seemed like a small animal to the gator," Kinler said.
Louisiana has 65 qualified hunters who handle about 5,000 calls about nuisance alligators a year, Kinler said. Of those calls, about 3,000 alligators are destroyed, he said.
"If an alligator is over 4 feet long we try to harvest it," Kinler said. "There is no sense in removing it and taking it somewhere else where it could just become a nuisance again."
The boy, and two girls were playing in a body of water around 3 p.m. at a subdivision near Slidell, about 20 miles northeast of New Orleans, when the alligator swam toward them and pulled the boy under, said Sheriff Jack Strain.
The alligator pulled Devin under water and bit off most of an arm, but the boy poked it in the eye and got free, relatives said.
The two girls with him made it to shore, ran for help and called 911. Three sheriff's deputies on patrol drove as far as they could toward the lake, then ran the final stretch — 1 1/2 miles — to reach the boy, Strain said.
The deputies helped the boy out of the water, and he was taken by 4-wheeler to a staging area where an ambulance picked him up and transported him to Slidell Memorial Hospital.
Later, the youngster was transported by helicopter to Ochsner Foundation Hospital in Jefferson. Strain said the boy was "fighting for his life."
"Our enforcement people reported the alligator had been shot," said Bo Boehringer, spokesman for the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries. "The good news is the alligator was in an enclosed body of water and could not escape that area."
WDSU-TV in New Orleans reported the arm had been recovered but the sheriff's office did not immediately confirm that.
Alligator attacks in Louisiana are rare, said Noel Kinler, manager of the state Department of Wildlife and Fisheries' alligator program. He said there was one last year, and two in 2005 and 2004, none serious.
"Typically an alligator is pretty docile," Kinler said. "But we take every chance to warn people that they need to be careful around them, especially large alligators."
Kinler speculated that an alligator as large as the one that attacked Funck might have mistaken the boy for something it would normally feed on.
"I can't say for sure, but certainly a young boy splashing his arms around could have seemed like a small animal to the gator," Kinler said.
Louisiana has 65 qualified hunters who handle about 5,000 calls about nuisance alligators a year, Kinler said. Of those calls, about 3,000 alligators are destroyed, he said.
"If an alligator is over 4 feet long we try to harvest it," Kinler said. "There is no sense in removing it and taking it somewhere else where it could just become a nuisance again."
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
Importance to Humans
Importance to Humans
The alligator gar has been commercially fished in southern states along with other gar species, and has also been fished and bow-fished. The meat of the alligator gar has been commercially sold for over a dollar a pound locally. It is not classified as a sport fish in some states such as Texas even though there is a popular bow fishery along the Rio Grande River. It is classified as a sport fish Alabama where the limit is 2 fish per day, which makes it off limits to commercial fishing in Alabama. The alligator gars, along with other gars, are important to their ecosystem in order to maintain the ecological balance.
Danger to Humans
Due to its large size and sharp teeth, the alligator gar is capable of delivering a serious bite wound to fisherman or swimmers. However, there is no documentation of attacks on man by alligator gars. The eggs are poisonous, causing illness if consumed by humans.
Conservation
The alligator gar is rare, endangered, and has even been extirpated from many of the outer areas of its range. Studies in Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana have shown that the alligator gar is very susceptible to overfishing. It has been classified as rare in Missouri, threatened in Illinois, and endangered in Arkansas, Kentucky, and is soon to be in Tennessee.
The alligator gar has been commercially fished in southern states along with other gar species, and has also been fished and bow-fished. The meat of the alligator gar has been commercially sold for over a dollar a pound locally. It is not classified as a sport fish in some states such as Texas even though there is a popular bow fishery along the Rio Grande River. It is classified as a sport fish Alabama where the limit is 2 fish per day, which makes it off limits to commercial fishing in Alabama. The alligator gars, along with other gars, are important to their ecosystem in order to maintain the ecological balance.
Danger to Humans
Due to its large size and sharp teeth, the alligator gar is capable of delivering a serious bite wound to fisherman or swimmers. However, there is no documentation of attacks on man by alligator gars. The eggs are poisonous, causing illness if consumed by humans.
Conservation
The alligator gar is rare, endangered, and has even been extirpated from many of the outer areas of its range. Studies in Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana have shown that the alligator gar is very susceptible to overfishing. It has been classified as rare in Missouri, threatened in Illinois, and endangered in Arkansas, Kentucky, and is soon to be in Tennessee.
Atractosteus spatula
The alligator gar is a much misunderstood sport-fish in America, it being the second largest freshwater fish here. There are very little true things that are in print about these great fish -
they are a very long lived fish, with no natural predators except man.
They grow very fast in the first 1 to 2 years being able to obtain weights up to 20 lbs the first year, after this spurt of growth they slow down and grow all the rest of their life,
with life spans being upwards of 75 years.
They will feed on anything from birds, to fish with anything in between being taken.
They are at the top of the food chain in their environment, and they are also very fast,
hunting type fish, not a lay in wait type of fish.
They have disappeared from a lot of their former habitats, not due to over-fishing,
but mostly due to habitat changes; as in the Arkansas River, which is no longer a slow natural stream, but a river that has seen the lock and dam system arrive, and the gar are no longer able to tolerate the colder waters. The dam building here in Texas, as in Lake Livingston and Sam Rayburn, has helped the gar to multiply, especially in Lake Livingston where they have the Trinity River to migrate up stream during the spring and sinter floods.
On a normal day here in Texas we will see an average of 20 to 100 gar turn in the surface.
The gar obtain 200+ lbs here quite often with numerous fish being taken above 100 lbs weekly.
The maximum size of this giant is probably around 400 lbs -
Kirk's biggest Alligator Gar weighed 365 lbs and it was 9 ft 6 in long !
IGFA All-tackle World Record: 126.55 kg / 279 lb 0 oz - Rio Grande, Texas, USA
they are a very long lived fish, with no natural predators except man.
They grow very fast in the first 1 to 2 years being able to obtain weights up to 20 lbs the first year, after this spurt of growth they slow down and grow all the rest of their life,
with life spans being upwards of 75 years.
They will feed on anything from birds, to fish with anything in between being taken.
They are at the top of the food chain in their environment, and they are also very fast,
hunting type fish, not a lay in wait type of fish.
They have disappeared from a lot of their former habitats, not due to over-fishing,
but mostly due to habitat changes; as in the Arkansas River, which is no longer a slow natural stream, but a river that has seen the lock and dam system arrive, and the gar are no longer able to tolerate the colder waters. The dam building here in Texas, as in Lake Livingston and Sam Rayburn, has helped the gar to multiply, especially in Lake Livingston where they have the Trinity River to migrate up stream during the spring and sinter floods.
On a normal day here in Texas we will see an average of 20 to 100 gar turn in the surface.
The gar obtain 200+ lbs here quite often with numerous fish being taken above 100 lbs weekly.
The maximum size of this giant is probably around 400 lbs -
Kirk's biggest Alligator Gar weighed 365 lbs and it was 9 ft 6 in long !
IGFA All-tackle World Record: 126.55 kg / 279 lb 0 oz - Rio Grande, Texas, USA
Alligator gar
The alligator gar, Atractosteus spatula, is a primitive ray-finned fish. Its also referred to as the gator gar. Unlike other gars, the mature alligator gar possesses a dual row of large teeth in the upper jaw. These remarkably alligator-like teeth, along with its snout, give it its name. The dorsal surface of the alligator gar is a brown or olive-color, while the ventral surface tends to be a lighter color. Their scales are diamond-shaped and interlocking (ganoid) and are sometimes used by Native Americans for jewelry.
Also unlike other gars, the alligator gar is capable of breathing air and can survive up to two hours above water.
The alligator gar is the largest species of gar and is the largest exclusively freshwater fish in North America. It can be as long as eight to twelve feet and often weighs at least 100 pounds at maturity. The current world record alligator gar weighed 279 pounds and was caught in the Rio Grande River in 1951. Even larger alligator gars — over 300 pounds — have been caught by trotliners.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Also unlike other gars, the alligator gar is capable of breathing air and can survive up to two hours above water.
The alligator gar is the largest species of gar and is the largest exclusively freshwater fish in North America. It can be as long as eight to twelve feet and often weighs at least 100 pounds at maturity. The current world record alligator gar weighed 279 pounds and was caught in the Rio Grande River in 1951. Even larger alligator gars — over 300 pounds — have been caught by trotliners.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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