Spotted Gar Found in East Lake

It has recently been confirmed that “an unusual fish” caught by commercial fisherman David Baverstock in the Fairfields Cove (Cove Beach) area of East Lake, Prince Edward County  (Lake Ontario, Bay of Quinte area) in 2008, was a Spotted Gar (Lepisosteus oculatus). This species is designated as “Threatened” by both the Federal and Provincial Species at Risk lists. Mr. Baverstock, whose family have held commercial fishing rights since 1898, had the foresight to take the fish to the Glenora Fisheries Station where it was photographed, and a tissue sample taken. Subsequently the fish was returned to East Lake.

As a follow-up to this reported catch, A PhD student from the University of Windsor, under the supervision of a research scientist at Fisheries and Oceans Canada in Burlington, carried out extensive sampling over a two-week period in late spring 2008 and will return this spring to look for more Spotted Gar. The DNA testing was recently carried out as part of the student’s research with the tissue sample taken at Glenora. Visually, the specimen caught by Mr. Baverstock appeared to have the key character (transparent scales on the throat area) that separates Spotted Gar from Florida Gar (known to be introduced into Canada), however only a DNA test was able to tell for sure.

The Spotted Gar is a stream-lined predator, with a long, cylindrical body and a beak-like mouth packed with sharp teeth for grabbing small fish such as minnows and yellow perch. The upper parts of the fish are olive brown and the underparts are grey. This species of gar has distinctive spotting on its head, body and fins. They can grow to over one metre long. The Spotted Gar usually lives in quiet clear pools and backwaters of creeks and rivers and lakes with abundant aquatic vegetation. In spring, adults move to shallow, heavily vegetated waters to breed, and have an air bladder to breathe out of water, or in oxygen depleted water.

The Spotted Gar is a southern species, which ranges from the Gulf of Mexico and northern Florida west to New Mexico, and north to the lower Great Lakes. In Ontario, it is found at three sites in Lake Erie. There is so far one record from the Bay of Quinte in Lake Ontario, and historical records from the Thames and Sydenham Rivers.

It is likely that the Spotted Gar was never common in Ontario, since this is the northern limit of the species’ range. Pollution and destruction of the shallow, weedy bays, which the Spotted Gar needs for breeding would threaten this species in Ontario. The species is afforded protection under Ontario’s new Endangered Species Act, 2007, as well as the Federal Species at Risk Act, 2002 and has the general protection given by habitat sections of the Fisheries Act. (Original article published by Friends of East Lake).