Significance To Humans
Gar flesh is edible, and sometimes available in markets, but unlike the sturgeon that they resemble, their eggs are highly toxic to humans. Several species are traded as aquarium fish.
The hard skin and scales of the gar were used by humans. Native Americans used the scales of the gar as arrowheads, native Caribbeans used the skin for breastplates, and early American pioneers covered their plows in gar skin. Not much is known about the precise function of the gar in Native American religion and culture, but besides using the gar, Creek and Chickasaw people have ritual "garfish dances."
Read more about this topic: Gar
Famous quotes containing the words significance and/or humans:
“History is the interpretation of the significance that the past has for us.”
—Johan Huizinga (1872–1945)
“Because humans are not alone in exhibiting such behavior—bees stockpile royal jelly, birds feather their nests, mice shred paper—it’s possible that a pregnant woman who scrubs her house from floor to ceiling [just before her baby is born] is responding to a biological imperative . . . . Of course there are those who believe that . . . the burst of energy that propels a pregnant woman to clean her house is a perfectly natural response to their mother’s impending visit.”
—Mary Arrigo (20th century)