Investigators from RSPCA Cymru have begun an enquirey after an Aligator Gar, Atractosteus spatula, was found dead in the Monmouthshire and Brecon Canal at Risca in Caerphilly on Thursday 27 February 2020. The Fish was found by local resident Tyrese Martin, 16, while on his way to school. Alligator Gars are large predatory Fish native to North America, capable of reaching over 3 m in length, but quite unsuited to the Welsh climate, leading to speculation that the animal may have been kept as a pet but been released into the canal when it outgrew it's aquarium. Aligator Gar are considered to be large exotic animals in Wales, and as such their are restrictions on keeping them, leading the RSPCA to speculate that the Fish may have been being kept (and possibly brought into the country and traded) illegally.
An Aligator Gar, Atractosteus spatula, found in the Monmouthshire and Brecon Canal at Risca in Caerphilly on Thursday 27 February 2020. Tyrese Martin.
Aligator Gars are the largest freshwater Fish in North America, and the largest living members of the Lepisosteiformes
(Gars), an ancient lineage of Ray-finned Fish, which branched off as a
separate evolutionary lineage during the Mesozoic. They lack the
expandable jaws of Teleosts, and have a heavily vascularised
swim-bladder which can be used as a lung. Gars today are found only in
the Americas, but fossil specimens are known from Europe and India.
An Aligator Gar, Atractosteus spatula, found in the Monmouthshire and Brecon Canal at Risca in Caerphilly on Thursday 27 February 2020. Tyrese Martin.
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