Atractosteus spatula ( Lacepède, 1803 )

Çiçek, Erdoğan, Jawad, Laith, Eagderi, Soheil, Esmaeili, Hamid Reza, Mouludi-Saleh, Atta, Sungur, Sevil & Fricke, Ronald, 2023, Freshwater fishes of Iraq: a revised and updated annotated checklist- 2023, Zootaxa 5357 (1), pp. 1-49 : 5

publication ID

https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5357.1.1

publication LSID

lsid:zoobank.org:pub:7CDE221A-1E73-416D-A984-23E64D9451A6

DOI

https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.10018616

persistent identifier

https://treatment.plazi.org/id/D65887E4-FFAF-FF81-98C8-D23AFD0FF9C9

treatment provided by

Plazi (2023-10-17 07:37:51, last updated 2024-11-25 23:26:13)

scientific name

Atractosteus spatula ( Lacepède, 1803 )
status

 

Atractosteus spatula ( Lacepède, 1803) View in CoL [I]—Alligator gar

Taxonomy. Original description: Lepisosteus spatula Lacepède, 1803: 331 View in CoL , 334, Pl. 6 (fig. 2) [No locality (North America); holotype: MNHN 0000-5804 (dry, mounted)].— Iraq synonyms: None.—Revisions: Grande (2010: 292).—Illustration: Lacepède (1803: 331, 334, Pl. 6 (fig. 2) as Lepisosteus spatula View in CoL ; Mutlak et al. (2017).

Status in Iraq. First record from Iraq by Mutlak et al. (2017).—Iraq materials: MSCUB.

Distribution and habitat. Distribution in Iraq: Tigris River.—General distribution: North America: central and southern U.S.A. and northern Mexico. Introduced in Iran; Java and Bali ( Indonesia).—Habitat: This gar is one of the largest freshwater fishes in North America, inhabiting sluggish pools of large rivers and their bayous, oxbow lakes, swamps, backwaters, and brackish and marine waters along the coast. Feeds on mostly fish and crabs, and occasionally other small vertebrates. Freshwater, brackish, marine.

Economic importance. Commercially important.

Reasons of introduction. Ornamental fish industry.

Conservation. Not relevant (introduced species).

Lacepede, B. G. E. (1803) Histoire naturelle des poissons. Vol. 5. Chez F. G. Levrault, Paris, lxviii + 803 pp., index, pls. 1 - 21.

Mutlak, F., Jawad, L. & Al-Faisal, A. (2017) Atractosteus spatula (Actinopterygii: Lepisosteiformes: Lepisosteidae): A deliberate aquarium trade introduction incidence in the Shatt al-Arab River, Basrah, Iraq. Acta Ichthyologica et Piscatoria, 47 (2), 205 - 207. https: // doi. org / 10.3750 / AIEP / 02143

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Chordata

Class

Actinopteri

Order

Lepisosteiformes

Family

Lepisosteidae

Genus

Atractosteus