Alligator Gars are just freaky-looking:


http://www.magikglasses.com/cannibol/ab ... es/gar.jpg

http://www.backwaterbowfishing.com/mywe ... %20075.jpg

http://www.iobis.org/images_new/ILAlligatorGar.jpg

http://www.mdwfp.com/ImageUploads%5CFW2 ... eb%202.JPG


What other nasty freshwater predatory fish are there, aside from Gars and Pirhanas?

Ah yea, good stuff. My uncle and I used to go fishing for gar in the bayou back home. They are quite tough sons-of-bitches and hard to pull up.

Here's one you might not heard of, which we also used to fish for:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_paddlefish

They look tough.

What do they typically feed upon?






Bro, I can't believe the schnoz on that thing!

Do they put up a fight too? Between gars and paddlefishes, which are more difficult to bring up?

Man, I've seen a gar eat a small duck before. They typically feed on other fish though, and occasionally some weird shit.

Of the two, my experience has been that the gars are much more aggressive and put up a fiercer fight, but paddlefish are just heavily muscled and while they give up after a while, are equally as tiring to pull on the boat.

The gar are pretty tasty too, but I am not too fond of paddlefish... they have a sort of dirty taste to them, similar to shellfish but not in the least savory like clams and mussels.

I didn't think shit like that actually existed.

Heh. There's all sorts of cool shit to be found in the Mississippi, my friend.

If it weren't for the other pictures, I'd think that first picture was fake. It just looks so...unearthly.

Yeah they actually look like that, I think there are some pics of the ones we caught back at my dad's home.

I agree 110%.

The first pic is one of the most bizarre/surreal that I have ever seen, of an animal.

Oh, there is only one animal that has given me a shiver down my spine and made me recoil a bit. I'd like to stay on topic of freshwater predatory fish though, unless you'd want to expand it more (in which case you can edit the title of your thread if you feel so inclined).

Are there any traditional ways of preparing a gar meal?

The only freshwater fish I've ever had is catfish, which I think is mild-tasting.

Tell us, bro.

I'm genuinely curious!

There isn't any specific way that we southerners prepare them, at least us of bayou Cajun stock, like my family. We have our ways to prepare fish, but these methods translate to any dish. They aren't like the puffers or octupus where you must take careful methods to make sure it's edible. Just cut your filets and cook the way you want.

Deep fried is always good, but of course fatty. Only eat that on occasion. I like mine grilled with some cayenne pepper. Cut into chunks and pit on a skewer with onion, bell pepper and pineapple over a fire pit.



Alright, it's the bigfin squid.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K-ZJXFzSjdA

That is really odd, facinating though.

Shite...

I have some computer issues, and can't currently watch Youtube vids.

Alright, well watch it when you get a chance. Pictures won't do it justice. You need to see the dorsal fin undulating in an alien-like rhythm. It's mystifying and abhorrent. See, primal monsters I can deal with. Things like beastly sharks do not unsettle me at all, and that is why I am comfortable swimming in rivers and lakes with alligator gar, and alligator themselves. The bigfin squid however is completely different. It's very calm, not savage looking. It appears to possess an otherworldly intelligence despite me knowing full well it's just another animal, and those tentacles that extend perpendicular from the body and then drop down into the abyss... yes. Well you get the idea.

Fuck.

Sounds downright Lovecraftian.

I googled for pics, and it certainly looks wierd.

I usually feel that way about the deep-sea creatures that live in the dark parts of the sea. Fish just make me feel weird in general though...

Kinda looks like a facehugger from Alien but with really long tentacles. That's a creepy video with the lack of sound and erratic camera

Well it's just this one, for me. I've handled live octopus and got to see a humboldt squid up close, they aren't so bad. It's just this one that strikes me as if it doesn't belong here.

After the camera panned the first time, I expected it to center and for the damn thing to "leap" at the camera.

i know its kinda mainstream, but the platypus is just...weird

http://www.biblelife.org/evolution-platypus.gif
http://www.bookweb.org/blogs/aba/resource/platypus.jpg

I am absolutely fascinated by this, too. Just think how many things are down there that we haven't discovered yet and probably never will. It really boggles the mind.

Nail on the head. It looks like it knows things. It almost looks condescending, "Yeah cameras...I remember those...we had those once...we've moved on."

Excellent timing with this, as I'm just now reading Call of Cthulhu for the first time.

LOL...


To be honest, I get that "knows things" vibe from the crocodile monitor, which has raptor-like eyes:

http://www.newenglandreptile.com/graphi ... s_croc.jpg


Zookeepers say that captive crocodile monitors are always... watching them, which is creepy.

Is the one in the video not even an adult? This really interested me so I looked it up on Wikipedia (probably not best source for information), and it made it sound like an adult hasn't been found.

Why is it that I find giant fish of any kind to be horribly frightening? For some reason a giant squid version of a bigfin would make me contemplate joining a cult that signals the end of the world.

Because they are.

Not really. I find Whale Shark to be relatively calming animals. Just being around them gives off this happy sort of feeling for me. Then again, they arent necessarily GIANT... I have a folder on my computer completely dedicated to images of sea monsters that are the size of large buildings. Im sure a good deal of people here MUST have seen that pictuer of the giant fucking sea worm thing thats coming up to eat that viking ship? The water is colored all dark and murky near the bottom of the picture too, so you have no idea where the bloody beast actually ENDS. Then, for final added creepy factor, theres a quote in the bottom that says "There are some places in the world man was never meant to go." - Bulvar.

The image in question, for those who wish to see one of the beasts that cause my fear of the ocean: http://img139.imageshack.us/img139/1560 ... 331rd0.jpg

For me, living on the water front of lake Macquarie in NSW (biggest salt water lake in Southern Hem I think) I am very weary of things like the Blue Ring Octopus and Box Jellyfish (Portugese Man-O-War) etc.

I am more worried of the things I can't see, than the larger things! I had a friend killed a few years back by one of those Box Jelly fish! It was horrible what it did!!!

Whale sharks are nice, I had a chance to dive with them, but passed it up because I was inexperienced at scuba diving. But snorkeling in the Galapagos was fun, the Sharks weren't scary really, I was actually more afraid of Sea Lions because when I was in a schools of fish a sea lion would just burst out of nowhere.

I had no idea the other things like the alligator Gar existed.

Damn, there are many replies like that in this thread. Hm, I figured they were well known, but I guess only amongst freshwater fishermen.

I'm really sorry for what happened to your friend.

I've never really came into contact with bigger or more dangerous jellyfish like those, but bumping into the smaller ones in the ocean really bothers me. Although most of those were probably already dead.

Basking sharks creep me out. I'm not sure why, they just look weird.

Basking sharks are pussies. Look up a picture of a megamouth shark. Tongue looks like a leather suitcase.

They seem kinda cute, actually.


Back to freaky water-dwellers, I'd say that the MURK has something to do with the fear. When you can see a big creature in the water, but you can only see part of it... that's kinda frightening, IMO.

Refer to the image I linked for some murk. Or any painting of a seamonster now. They have ridiculous amounts of murky water, as the creatures always seem to extend to the bloody ocean floor.

EDIT: Google has now ruined my love of whale sharks.
http://www.arkive.org/media/F121C21F-3E ... eeding.jpg

Imagine swimming and not paying attention behind you, then all of the sudden you're swallowed by that beast! Oh boy...

Im pretty sure it wouldnt eat you, even accidentally. Those things are filter feeders, so they do that for ages when they need to eat. I doubt they eat fish and things as a side effect or something. Still, if I saw that thing come up behind me with its mouth open that wide I'm pretty sure I'd shit myself in fear.

Whale sharks are very beautiful, and from what I've seen, very gentle or indifferent to humans. I've seen videos of divers swimming by them for hours without any threat being posed to them.

What terrifies me most of the ocean, though, is all those unknown creatures that dwell in the depths of it (the depths where sunlight doesn't reach, forcing the animals there to develop fantastic shapes and means to cope with the environment). The anglerfish, the blind shark, the giant squid... those things are downright surreal and frightening.

http://gfc.easytel.com/yandian/images/g ... r_fish.jpg

Any pics of such beasties of the depths?