Day three of the Twelve Days of Fishmas! Day two can be found here. The tag for the whole set will be here.
On the third day of Fishmas cladistics gave to me…
- Three genera of Holostean
- Two Chondrostei
- And a bichir at the base of Actinopterygii
Next up the family tree, the Holostei, represented by the three modern genera. Two are gars, Lepisosteus and Atractosteus (the latter of which are notable for their heavier snouts and generally larger size). The other is the monotypic Amia, the bowfin. Together, they form the sister group to the rest of the Neopterygii. Some research has suggested that gars might be the sister to a bowfin+rest of teleosts (referred to as the Halecostomi) but…my basis for the whole tree (and most of other research) points in the direction I went with.
The three figures chosen to represent here are the Longnose gar from Replica Toy Fish, the Alligator gar from Colorata, and the American bowfin from FaunaFiguresFishes. I remember how exciting it was to get my first gar figures–the longnose gar being one of them (as well as the associated 6″ alligator gar). Since then, I have managed to get a fair number of gars, and there are a decent number (a couple of which are still available), representing several species. That said, most figures currently available are Atractosteus species (usually alligator gar, but there is one nice Cuban gar from Favorite). As for Bowfin…well, there are really no readily available ones. The model here was made for me…as was another, smaller one I have. The only other one I have is a large wooden decoy model. The worst part is that bowfin figures have been promised before (for two different companies) but they always cease before getting to them…someday. Someday.
See you for day four…!
