Their common name was derived from their resemblance to American alligator, particularly their broad snout and long sharp teeth. Gars are often referred to as "primitive fishes", or "living fossils" because they have retained some morphological characteristics of their earliest ancestors, such as a spiral valve intestine which is also common to the digestive system of sharks, and the ability to breathe both air and water. ![]() ![]() They are the largest species in the gar family, and among the largest freshwater fishes in North America. The fossil record traces their existence to the Early Cretaceous over a hundred million years ago. Alligator gar ( Atractosteus spatula) are ray-finned euryhaline fish related to bowfin in the infraclass Holostei (ho'-las-te-i).
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