benlabay's Identifications

Alligator gar (Atractosteus spatula)

7 August 2015: Observed how someone had left a young Alligator Gar (Atractosteus spatula) measuring only about 2.5' by the side of one of the roads at the Lake Lewisville Envrionmental Learning Area (LLELA) in Lewisville, Texas. The most fished area at LLELA is only about 100-200 feet from where we found the dessicated carcass of this magnificent fish. The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department puts a limit of only one alligator gar per day per licensed person fishing at the Elm Fork Trinity River and during the time in which the species is spawning they prohibit its fishing altogether. Currently LLELA is open to the public only three days per week, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. LLELA is administered jointly by the US Army Corps of Engineers, the City of Lewisville, Texas, and the University of North Texas.