Roadless Areas
Home/Species/ Longnose Gar

Lepisosteus osseus

(Linnaeus, 1758)

Longnose Gar

G5Secure Found in 2 roadless areas NatureServe Explorer →
G5SecureGlobal Rank
Least concernIUCN
Identity
Unique IDELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.106443
Element CodeAFCBA01020
Record TypeSPECIES
ClassificationSpecies
Classification StatusStandard
Name CategoryVertebrate Animal
IUCNLeast concern
Endemicoccurs (regularly, as a native taxon) in multiple nations
KingdomAnimalia
PhylumCraniata
ClassActinopterygii
OrderLepisosteiformes
FamilyLepisosteidae
GenusLepisosteus
Other Common Names
Lépisosté osseux (FR)
Concept Reference
Robins, C.R., R.M. Bailey, C.E. Bond, J.R. Brooker, E.A. Lachner, R.N. Lea, and W.B. Scott. 1991. Common and scientific names of fishes from the United States and Canada. American Fisheries Society, Special Publication 20. 183 pp.
Conservation Status
Rank MethodExpertise without calculation
Review Date2016-02-09
Change Date1996-09-09
Edition Date2012-02-29
Edition AuthorsHammerson, G.
Range Extent>2,500,000 square km (greater than 1,000,000 square miles)
Number of Occurrences81 to >300
Range Extent Comments
Range includes the North American Atlantic slope from the Delaware River, New Jersey, to central Florida; St. Lawrence River, Quebec, through Great Lakes (except Superior), and Mississippi River basin to the Red River (Hudson Bay basin), North Dakota, and south to Louisiana; Gulf Slope drainages from central Florida to Rio Grande drainage, Texas and Mexico (Page and Burr 2011).
Occurrences Comments
This species is represented by a large number of occurrences (subpopulations).
Threat Impact Comments
No major threats are known.
Ecology & Habitat

Habitat

Habitat includes large weedy lakes and reservoirs, backwaters and quiet pools of medium to large rivers, stagnant ponds, sloughs, canals, brackish waters of coastal inlets, occasionally coastal marine waters; often near vegetation or close to submerged or overhanging objects by day. Young tend to occupy shallows, larger individuals in deeper water (Sublette et al. 1990). Spawning occurs over weed beds of shallow waters in rivers, usually in grass and weeds in shoal water in lakes; or near stone piles of railroad bridges (Becker 1983), in nests of smallmouth bass (Goff 1984), or over gravel bars (Sublette et al. 1990).

Reproduction

Spawns in late spring or early summer, depending on locality. Eggs hatch in about a week. Males sexually mature by age III or IV, females by age VI (Sublette et al. 1990).
Other Nations (2)
United StatesN5
ProvinceRankNative
South CarolinaS5Yes
MississippiS5Yes
North CarolinaS5Yes
MichiganS4Yes
KentuckyS4Yes
LouisianaS5Yes
South DakotaS2Yes
DelawareS4Yes
OhioS4Yes
District of ColumbiaS4Yes
OklahomaSNRYes
ArkansasS4Yes
IllinoisS3Yes
New MexicoS2Yes
MissouriSNRYes
KansasS5Yes
GeorgiaS3Yes
New YorkS3Yes
PennsylvaniaS5Yes
VermontS4Yes
FloridaSNRYes
TennesseeS5Yes
MinnesotaSNRYes
WisconsinS5Yes
West VirginiaS4Yes
AlabamaS5Yes
IowaS3Yes
IndianaS4Yes
New JerseySHYes
MarylandS4Yes
VirginiaS4Yes
TexasS5Yes
NebraskaS4Yes
CanadaN4
ProvinceRankNative
QuebecS4Yes
OntarioS4Yes
Threat Assessments
ThreatScopeSeverityTiming
No known threats———

—

Roadless Areas (2)
Arkansas (1)
AreaForestAcres
Little BlakelyOuachita National Forest3,342
Florida (1)
AreaForestAcres
Alexander Springs CreekOcala National Forest2,954
References (53)
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