December through March, during the new and full moons, Gar congregate for their winter spawning on the Ichetucknee. They get pretty frisky, sometimes exploding through the floating vegetation. Kenneth Sulak, Ph.D. , a research fish biologist, has been observing the gar and inspired us to learn more about this ancient fish. Below are a few comments from Dr. Sulak and a video produced by Aquatic Ecologist William Hawthorn.
OSFR President Joanne Tremblay
joanne.tremblay@oursantaferiver.org
“Giving Our River A Voice”
Dr. Sulak writes”It took me several years of observing Longnose Gar behavior in several North Florida springs to home in on just where and when they spawn. The whole spawning sequence begins with an upriver migration in the Suwannee River, a strange group congregation in October-December involving hundreds of gar, then pods breaking off and heading to several spawning sites. Best place to observe this is in the clearwater Ichetucknee spring run. Turns out that while adults congregate in spring runs, in deep hole areas, from December through early May, they only spawn for a few days each month, coordinated precisely with the new moon and full moon stages -after months of prespawning behavior. Typically in daytime, midday, massing of adults, several males forming a tight retinue around each larger female. Prior to 2022, no one had ever videoed gar spawning underwater – anywhere in North America. But in Feb 2022, Bill Hawthorne, biologist and underwater videography for Florida Springs Institute was at the right place at the right time to capture colossal video of the entrancing slow-motion spawning dance of Longnose gar, culminating with a sudden launch up into floating vegetation and an explosive spawning event. The eggs adhere specifically to the roots of Water Lettuce – in my experience only to Water Lettuce in the Iche. ” Dr. Kenneth Sulak, Dec 21, 2024
Dr. Sulak continues “I have been lobbying for some years to recognize the Longnose Gar, the largest and most unique fish found in Florida springs, as an Icon of springs ecosystem health. Long considered a nuisance trash fish or no commercial or sportfish importance, the strange and unique life history of this archaic fish remains very little studied. It is likely an ecological keystone species in the Suwannee-Santa Fe-Ichetucknee system. Gar have withstood two major extinctions, saw the dinosaurs come and go, and are still with us. They depend on the much maligned floating plant (it is NATIVE) Water Lettuce, an essential friend of the gar, its eggs, and its attached hatchling larvae in spring runs.
Water Lettuce is also the most preferred food of Manatees – they love it (based on a very excellent scientific study conducted elsewhere) and my own observations and those of others. Manatees selectively feed on lettuce before munching any other spring run vegetation. Think good thoughts about the gar and its companion Water Lettuce. Tell your friends to refrain from volunteering to assist scientifically ill-advised Water Lettuce removal events. Water Lettuce also uptakes nitrogen and heavy metals, cycles those out of the system, and releases natural algacide chemicals that suppress nasty Lyngbya and Vaucheria filamentous ‘algae’ that smother springs habitats.”
