---
title: "Spotted Gar"
description: "Lepisosteus oculatus — Pesci. The spotted gar (Lepisosteus oculatus) is a freshwater fish native to North America that has an abundance of dark spots on its head, fins, and dart-like body."
canonical: https://animalchecklist.com/it/animal/spotted-gar
last_updated: 2026-09-20
---

# Spotted Gar

> Lepisosteus oculatus — Pesci. The spotted gar (Lepisosteus oculatus) is a freshwater fish native to North America that has an abundance of dark spots on its head, fins, and dart-like body.

- Scientific name: *Lepisosteus oculatus*
- Category: `fish` (Pesci)
- Habitats: `freshwater` (Laghi e fiumi)
- iNaturalist observations: 3935
- Wikidata: [Q779340](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q779340)
- iNaturalist taxon: [104249](https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/104249)

## Names

- en: Spotted Gar
- de: Gefleckter Knochenhecht
- es: Catán pinto
- fr: Lépisosté tacheté
- pl: Niszczuka plamista

## Countries with the most observations

US (3299), CA (151), MX (6)

## Summary

The spotted gar (Lepisosteus oculatus) is a freshwater fish native to North America that has an abundance of dark spots on its head, fins, and dart-like body. Spotted gar have an elongated mouth with many needle-like teeth to catch other fish and crustaceans. It is one of the smallest of the seven species of gar found in North America, growing 2–3 ft (0.61–0.91 m) in length and weighing 4–6 lb (1.8–2.7 kg) typically. Gars have diamond-shaped, thick, enamel (ganoid) scales. The name Lepisosteus is Greek for "bony scale".
Gars are almost never eaten in the central and northern United States. They have high levels of…

Text: Wikipedia (en), CC BY-SA 4.0 — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spotted_gar

## Photo

![Spotted Gar](https://animalchecklist.com/img/animals/spotted-gar/medium.jpg)

Photo: Evelyn Lazzaretti 🏳️‍⚧️ · CC0 · inaturalist — https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/150333643

## Machine access

`GET https://animalchecklist.com/api/v1/animals/spotted-gar?lang=it` — see [openapi.json](https://animalchecklist.com/openapi.json).