. Cold-blooded vertebrates: part I. Fishes. Fishes; Amphibians; Reptiles. FISHES sippi, Great Lakes, and the rivers of the Southern States. It is represented by three species, the largest of which, the alhgator gar {Lepisosteus tristoechus)^ is reported to reach a length of twenty feet. The gar pike prefers quiet water and is rather sluggish in its habits, yet at times aggressive. The complete armor of dermal plates saves it from easy destruction by fish or other predatory animals, and the enamel scales of the alligator gar may even resist shot. When taken from the water it exhibits a remarkab
. Cold-blooded vertebrates: part I. Fishes. Fishes; Amphibians; Reptiles. FISHES sippi, Great Lakes, and the rivers of the Southern States. It is represented by three species, the largest of which, the alhgator gar {Lepisosteus tristoechus)^ is reported to reach a length of twenty feet. The gar pike prefers quiet water and is rather sluggish in its habits, yet at times aggressive. The complete armor of dermal plates saves it from easy destruction by fish or other predatory animals, and the enamel scales of the alligator gar may even resist shot. When taken from the water it exhibits a remarkable te- nacity to life, often living for hours. Fishermen consider the fish a general nuisance, for it "steals" bait, tears nets, and its flesh is almost worthless. Of all living ganoids the gar pike resembles most per- fectly the structural characters of the abundant Paleozoic and Mesozoic forms, although its genus occurs first in the. Fig. 10. The long-nosed gar pike, Lepisosteus osseus, of the Great Lakes and Mississippi Valley. A typical ganoid with rhomboid plates instead of true scales Eocene. Many of the fossil ganoids are not elongate in body, nor do they possess long jaws, yet they resemble the gar pike in the structure of the rhombic bony plates cover- ing the body, in the fins, the teeth, and in the partially calcified skeleton. The sturgeons, of which about thirty species are known, and the paddlefishes also belong to the ganoid group. The dermal plates, completely covering the body in the gar pike, have been reduced in the sturgeons to five longitudinal rows of large shields, leaving most of the body naked, while in the paddlefishes dermal plates are entirely wanting. Very young sturgeons have conical teeth which they lose early in life, leaving the mouth. Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enhanced for readability - coloration and appearance of these illustrations may not perfectly resemble th
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, booksubj, booksubjectfishes, booksubjectreptiles
