Sad but salient among Cretaceous fossil clams

And gar are suspected to have an unusually strong DNA repair apparatus, which, if proven by further studies, could aid in developing treatments against diseases like cancer. If all this isn't enough to convince you of their awesomeness, you need to follow @garlab.bsky.social to set you straight
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Gar have the slowest known rate of molecular evolution of all jawed vertebrates, reducing speciation rates. The 2 living genera evolved 105 million years ago. The oldest articulated vertebrate skeleton of the Cenozoic is a gar from shortly after the Chicxulub impact that killed the dinosaurs
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The gar swim bladder functions as a lung and they must surface periodically to gulp air. Studies have shown that gar switch between breathing air and breathing water based on temperature. Warm water holds less oxygen, so they breathe air more in warm temps
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Native Americans used gar scales as arrowheads, native Carribeans used gar skin as breastplates, and early colonizers wrapped gar skin around their plow blades. In other words, it's really hard to get through gar skin
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Gar are one of the few groups of fish that have ganoid scales. They're composed of ganoine, a glassy, multilayered, mineralized tissue, and rod-like apatite crystals. They're usually diamond-shaped and fit together like a jigsaw rather than overlapping like more common scales
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They are the only surviving members of the Ginglymodi, first appearing in the Triassic period over 240 million years ago, just before the first dinosaurs appeared. Their closest relatives are the equally cool bowfin. Some extinct species were marine and today's gar can handle some salt
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There are currently 7 species of gar, all of them in eastern North America, Central America, the Caribbean, or Cuba. But in the past, they were found on every continent except Australia and Antarctica. The largest is the alligator gar, and the biggest ever recorded was over 8 feet long!
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