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“Behold The GARLIATH!”: Enormous “Living Fossil” Hauled From Mississippi Floodplains Stuns Scientists
IFL Science ^ | November 05, 2025 | Rachael Funnell

Posted on 11/05/2025 11:21:56 AM PST by Red Badger

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1 posted on 11/05/2025 11:21:56 AM PST by Red Badger
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To: Red Badger

I’ve seen people showing off bigger gar than this specimen.


2 posted on 11/05/2025 11:25:44 AM PST by ckilmer
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To: Red Badger

Needle-nose gar backstrap tastes like lobster. The trick is you need a skill saw to get it open.


3 posted on 11/05/2025 11:26:48 AM PST by waterhill (Nobody cares, work harder!)
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To: Red Badger

Record is 8’5” at 327#


4 posted on 11/05/2025 11:27:10 AM PST by Cold Heart
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To: ckilmer

World record was caught at Lake Rayburn TX. 283 lbs. 100” long. 48” girth.


5 posted on 11/05/2025 11:31:46 AM PST by waterhill (Nobody cares, work harder!)
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Rod and reel. 6 lb test line.


6 posted on 11/05/2025 11:33:27 AM PST by waterhill (Nobody cares, work harder!)
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To: Red Badger

By gar, that’s big ‘un!


7 posted on 11/05/2025 11:37:06 AM PST by fidelis (Ecce Crucem Domini! Fugite partes adversae! Vicit Leo de tribu Juda, Radix David! Alleluia!)
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To: ckilmer

I agree


8 posted on 11/05/2025 11:43:03 AM PST by caver ( )
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To: waterhill

Ha ha.


9 posted on 11/05/2025 11:43:49 AM PST by crusty old prospector
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To: Red Badger

“but together the team were successfully able to capture, “

but together the team was able to capture,


10 posted on 11/05/2025 11:59:30 AM PST by TexasGator (The 750 hp Florida Gnat)
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To: waterhill

In East Texas and Western Louisiana we now fishem, 300# test line on the compound bow reel. Same arrows and line you use for actual alligators which with a tag and season you can bowfish them too, pretty easy finding gators in East Texas now. Both species have rebounded well. Yes Rayburn is known for its monster sized gars so is all of the Neches river basin, same for the lower Trinity too huge gar and much gators in both.

Gar is not bad eating once you get the bones out and sawzall it into chunks it cooks like firm white meat like gator tail meat. we grillem or deep fry it or smoke it a Cajun cooker aka the R2D2 or the East Texas boys use the 55 gal drum smoker horizontal or vertical drum don’t matter both get the job done. It’s always a tuff choice between R2D2, the barrels or the Weber kettle have all 4 in the back each get used at least a couple times per season. The cinder block pit with diamond grate gets all the feral hog loving which has no closed season here. We hate ferals it’s shoot on sight, using the one hand no nuts method for eaters. That’s if you can pick it up with one hand at arms length and see it don’t got nuts that’s a eater hog.

You can shoot gar year round gator season ended Sept 30th for core areas and won’t open for the other area’s till April 1st hoping for a gator this year. Stupid legislator passed a law banning rifles and bows from public river beds against our Texas constitution at that it hasn’t made it to the state supreme court yet. At least it exempts bowfishing from a boat or bank. Some rich land owner’s lobbied to keep the public off “their” rover banks uh no crapbrains river’s ,lakes and inundated swamplands are the people’s lands grrrr they can’t keep you from access public lands,nor fishing ,nor shotguns for birds, small game or deer in season or hogs for that matter.


11 posted on 11/05/2025 12:03:26 PM PST by GenXPolymath
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To: ckilmer

We catch ‘em in the St. Lucie River like that. Not a giant.


12 posted on 11/05/2025 12:07:30 PM PST by Fireone (1. Avoid crowds 2.Head on a swivel 3.Be prepared to protect & defend those around you 4.Avoid crowds)
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To: Red Badger

13 posted on 11/05/2025 12:10:07 PM PST by Magnum44 (...against all enemies, foreign and domestic... )
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To: GenXPolymath

I’m glad to hear people eat them. I saw so many people just kill them and throw them back in the water or on the shore when I was in Texas.


14 posted on 11/05/2025 12:14:03 PM PST by Organic Panic ('Was I molested. I think so' - Ashley Biden in response to her father joining her in the shower.)
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To: GenXPolymath

We live in ETX and have a place on the Ouchita North of Monroe LA.


15 posted on 11/05/2025 12:18:49 PM PST by waterhill (Nobody cares, work harder!)
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To: TexasGator

Written by the department of AI redundancy department.


16 posted on 11/05/2025 12:48:18 PM PST by Getready (Wisdom is more valuable than gold and harder to find.)
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To: waterhill

I’ve tried gar back strap. Very tasty.


17 posted on 11/05/2025 1:08:42 PM PST by Hyman Roth
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To: waterhill

“Needle-nose gar backstrap tastes like lobster. The trick is you need a skill saw to get it open.”

Alligator Gar is good to.


18 posted on 11/05/2025 1:18:16 PM PST by Fai Mao (I used to care, but things have changed ~ Bob Dylan)
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To: Red Badger

Most fish grow throughout their lives, as do reptiles. That is where the dinosaurs came from. Once the lifespan of humans and reptiles shortened, they disappeared.


19 posted on 11/05/2025 1:36:57 PM PST by aimhigh (1 John 3:23 "And THIS is His commandment . . . . ")
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To: Red Badger

Personally, I have seen much bigger ones.


20 posted on 11/05/2025 2:40:41 PM PST by Repeal The 17th (Get out of the matrix and get a real life.)
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