Two fishermen in Texas, US, were caught by surprise when they managed to hook a rarely seen jet-black river beast while trying to catch a redfish.
The photos that have now become viral revealed that the “rare” creature they caught is a melanistic alligator gar.
The fish is said to be about 5 feet long, and is known to reach “enormous lengths”.
One of the fishermen, Jordan, who shared several photos on social media, wrote in the caption of the Facebook post, “Well… me and Terrell found out melanistic gar do exist yesterday.”
Jordan and Meyer returned the fish to the marsh after catching it.
“It was very surprising once the fish surfaced to see that it was jet black, which I had never seen in all of the alligator gar I had seen,” Jordan, owner of Lotus Guide Service, told FTW Outdoors.
Alligator gar, the largest of the extant gar species, are among the biggest freshwater fish in North America, according to National Geographic. They live exclusively in the lower Mississippi River Valley, where they chow down on smaller fish, blue crabs, waterfowl and the occasional turtle.
Known for their prehistoric appearance, the giant fish are rare and endangered. They are usually dark green or olive in colour, nut the ones that are black, like the one they have caught, are even rarer.
While a fully-grown alligator gar may look intimidating, they pose no threat to humans. However, like other gars, their eggs are toxic to people and should not be eaten.
As the black species of alligator gar are very rarely seen, scientists haven’t yet been able to track their population or document their abundance in Texas rivers.
(With inputs from agencies)
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