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Freshwater animals

Spotted gar

Amazing fact

Spotted gars take in air at the surface and breathe with a swim bladder that works like a lung.

University of Michigan Animal Diversity Web
Spotted gar in its habitat (illustration)

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An illustration based on the real animal.

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Spotted gars take in air at the surface and breathe with a swim bladder that works like a lung.

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THE REAL WORLD

The real Spotted gar

Scientific name
Lepisosteus oculatus
Japanese name
スポッテッドガー
Group
Freshwater animals
Order
Lepisosteiformes
Family
Lepisosteidae
Genus
Lepisosteus
Facts about the real animal.
01

A gar that lives in North America, from Texas to western Florida.

02

The spotted markings on its sides are its hallmark.

03

Among gars, it is fairly small.

How the Spotted gar lives

At night they become more active and range farther to search for food. They ambush prey, feeding mainly on aquatic crustaceans such as crayfish. By day they often stay still near fallen trees or brush in the water.

University of Michigan Animal Diversity Web

Basic data

Range
Texas to western Florida
鳥羽水族館

Where the Spotted gar has been recorded

World map with dots where the Spotted gar has been recorded
Each dot marks a place with observations or specimens shared on GBIF. Some records are of animals that strayed or were brought by people, so the dots are not always where the animal lives.

Records: GBIF.org (CC0 and CC BY 4.0 records, retrieved 2026-11-07). Map: Natural EarthSee the records on GBIF

Watch wild animals from a distance. Do not touch or feed them, and take care of the places where they live.

Names around the world

简体中文
斑点雀鳝
繁體中文
斑點雀鱔
Español
Catán pinto
Português (Brasil)
Gar-pintado
Bahasa Indonesia
Gar totol
Tiếng Việt
Cá láng đốm

Names come from Wikidata and iNaturalist records. Where a language has no recorded name, we use the scientific name.

Sources and how we check

We check each fact against its source. The illustrations simplify how the real animal looks.

The classification (class, order, family, genus) follows Wikidata records, checked against GBIF. Classifications can change as research goes on.

The basic data are the values given in each source. They vary with how the animal is measured, whether it is male or female, and whether it lives in the wild or in captivity.

This page was translated from the original Japanese with the help of AI.

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