Longnose Gar - Life History

Life History

Longnose gar have an average life span of 15-20 years with a max age of 39 thus far. This long lifespan allows the female to be able to sexually mature later in life (around 6 years old). As for the male, they mature sexually as soon as 2 years of age. Sex ratios are in favor of the males in the beginning until after 10 years of age, and then the sex ratios are in favor of the females. Longnose gars are sexually dimorphic to which the females are larger than the males in body length, weight, and fin length. They generally have a clutch size close to 30,000, depending on the weight to length ratio of the females; larger females bare larger clutch sizes. They spawn in temperatures close to 20C in late April and early July. There consists of one female to five males per spawning ground. Eggs have a toxic, adhesive coating helping them stick to substrates and are deposited onto stones in shallow water, rocky shelves, vegetation, or smallmouth bass nests. Their hatch time is 7-9 days; young gar stay in vegetation during the first summer of life.