1 00:00:04,200 --> 00:00:06,360 Speaker 1: Hey, I'm welcome to the short Stuff. I'm Josh, and 2 00:00:06,400 --> 00:00:08,639 Speaker 1: there's Chuck and Jerry's here for Dave. So this is 3 00:00:08,720 --> 00:00:13,120 Speaker 1: short Stuff as usual. Let's go. So can I tell 4 00:00:13,160 --> 00:00:17,159 Speaker 1: you my inspiration for this was? I was I was 5 00:00:17,200 --> 00:00:18,919 Speaker 1: at the lake the other day. We we got to 6 00:00:18,960 --> 00:00:20,400 Speaker 1: a lake here in Georgia. I'm not gonna name it 7 00:00:20,400 --> 00:00:24,000 Speaker 1: because I don't want to be stalked, okay, like no name, 8 00:00:24,239 --> 00:00:26,280 Speaker 1: like no name. Uh And I was at the lake 9 00:00:26,320 --> 00:00:28,680 Speaker 1: the other day doing a project and I was very hot, 10 00:00:28,720 --> 00:00:32,720 Speaker 1: because it's very hot in Georgia right now, and I 11 00:00:32,760 --> 00:00:35,879 Speaker 1: went to jump in to cool down. And right as 12 00:00:35,920 --> 00:00:38,000 Speaker 1: I was going to take a leap off the dock, 13 00:00:38,680 --> 00:00:42,240 Speaker 1: I saw a very large, like a two and a 14 00:00:42,280 --> 00:00:47,800 Speaker 1: half foot garfish kind of treacle towards the surface. And 15 00:00:48,200 --> 00:00:51,199 Speaker 1: I I've seen him before out there occasionally, but it 16 00:00:51,320 --> 00:00:53,960 Speaker 1: just scare the life out of me because it is 17 00:00:54,000 --> 00:00:57,080 Speaker 1: a terrifying looking fish. If you don't know what a 18 00:00:57,120 --> 00:01:00,800 Speaker 1: garfish looks like, just do a little uhm search and 19 00:01:01,800 --> 00:01:07,360 Speaker 1: they have these long, very sharp toothed snouts and they 20 00:01:07,400 --> 00:01:10,680 Speaker 1: are terrifying if you It looks like something that you 21 00:01:10,680 --> 00:01:13,480 Speaker 1: would find in a river in South America. And not 22 00:01:13,640 --> 00:01:16,399 Speaker 1: the one that you would jump into a lake in Georgia. Right. 23 00:01:16,440 --> 00:01:19,319 Speaker 1: And also, um, you travel back in time fifty million 24 00:01:19,440 --> 00:01:24,200 Speaker 1: years too, because they definitely look prehistoric for sure. Oh 25 00:01:24,240 --> 00:01:27,280 Speaker 1: absolutely uh. And this is specifically about the alligator gar. 26 00:01:27,400 --> 00:01:29,760 Speaker 1: And this comes from our old friends at House Stuff 27 00:01:29,760 --> 00:01:34,959 Speaker 1: Works in Michelle Konstantinovski. Great name, very nice, but the 28 00:01:34,959 --> 00:01:38,200 Speaker 1: alligator gar is super old, right, Yeah. They think they 29 00:01:38,240 --> 00:01:40,880 Speaker 1: found fossils as old as a hundred million years old, 30 00:01:41,000 --> 00:01:44,399 Speaker 1: not just fifty um. And they actually the reason that 31 00:01:44,440 --> 00:01:46,880 Speaker 1: it's called an alligator gars because it has a long 32 00:01:47,040 --> 00:01:50,360 Speaker 1: snout too, but rather than being pointed like most other gar, 33 00:01:50,560 --> 00:01:53,640 Speaker 1: it's flattened, giving it kind of like a shovel like 34 00:01:53,800 --> 00:01:58,800 Speaker 1: appearance or actually like an alligator snout. And the Latin 35 00:01:58,920 --> 00:02:03,840 Speaker 1: name for it is attracto status spatula. And that's right, spatula. 36 00:02:04,040 --> 00:02:06,480 Speaker 1: It's the spatula fish is another way to put it. 37 00:02:06,720 --> 00:02:08,720 Speaker 1: And it I mean it really does look like an 38 00:02:08,720 --> 00:02:11,880 Speaker 1: alligator snout when you see a picture of these things. Yeah, 39 00:02:11,960 --> 00:02:16,000 Speaker 1: they are huge. There um seven living species of of gar, 40 00:02:16,600 --> 00:02:19,880 Speaker 1: and the alligator gar is the largest by far. Uh. 41 00:02:19,919 --> 00:02:22,320 Speaker 1: The other way you can tell a diff is they 42 00:02:22,360 --> 00:02:25,160 Speaker 1: have two rows of teeth alligator gar on the upper 43 00:02:25,280 --> 00:02:28,040 Speaker 1: jaw instead of just the one row of teeth of 44 00:02:28,080 --> 00:02:30,440 Speaker 1: the regular gar. And I think their head is a 45 00:02:30,440 --> 00:02:34,840 Speaker 1: bit wider, yeah, And I think normally there um something 46 00:02:34,919 --> 00:02:39,679 Speaker 1: like about a hundred and sixty pounds too, maybe six 47 00:02:39,720 --> 00:02:43,120 Speaker 1: ft long, which is enormous for a fish. Um. But 48 00:02:43,320 --> 00:02:47,880 Speaker 1: they have been I guess found up to three fifty 49 00:02:47,880 --> 00:02:51,080 Speaker 1: pounds and ten ft long, which is even more enormous. 50 00:02:51,560 --> 00:02:53,919 Speaker 1: I think the record, at least in Texas is three 51 00:02:54,320 --> 00:02:57,480 Speaker 1: and two pounds. That was back in And the reason 52 00:02:57,600 --> 00:03:00,519 Speaker 1: we bring up Texas because a YouTuber named hating More 53 00:03:00,800 --> 00:03:05,440 Speaker 1: he's a conservationist, posted a video on his channel wildlife 54 00:03:05,960 --> 00:03:08,919 Speaker 1: Um last May because he caught one of these things 55 00:03:08,919 --> 00:03:10,959 Speaker 1: and it was eight ft long and probably about three 56 00:03:11,000 --> 00:03:13,760 Speaker 1: hundred pounds. Did you watch that video? I did not. 57 00:03:14,600 --> 00:03:18,160 Speaker 1: It is a very large fish and uh he likened 58 00:03:18,160 --> 00:03:21,120 Speaker 1: it to um kind of hanging onto the end of 59 00:03:21,120 --> 00:03:24,639 Speaker 1: a car that's trying to roll down a driveway. I 60 00:03:24,720 --> 00:03:26,440 Speaker 1: don't see how you bring in a fish like this 61 00:03:26,760 --> 00:03:29,480 Speaker 1: that that's that heavy, But he knew what he was doing, 62 00:03:29,520 --> 00:03:32,480 Speaker 1: and it's it's just enormous, man. It's I think at 63 00:03:32,520 --> 00:03:34,800 Speaker 1: the end he had that. Uh you know, he obviously 64 00:03:34,800 --> 00:03:37,320 Speaker 1: released it, but he was kind of um measuring it 65 00:03:37,360 --> 00:03:39,400 Speaker 1: and showing it off for the camera, and this thing 66 00:03:39,520 --> 00:03:42,840 Speaker 1: just like whipped around to sort of wriggle and just 67 00:03:42,920 --> 00:03:45,800 Speaker 1: like just it's so strong. It just knocks this guy 68 00:03:45,840 --> 00:03:48,640 Speaker 1: over and then swims away. And he's like, well, you know, 69 00:03:48,680 --> 00:03:50,320 Speaker 1: I guess I I was gonna let it go, but 70 00:03:50,360 --> 00:03:54,040 Speaker 1: apparently that just happened now, right, Good for him for 71 00:03:54,080 --> 00:03:57,000 Speaker 1: letting it go, or at least planning to. You know, Well, 72 00:03:57,000 --> 00:03:59,600 Speaker 1: you do let them go because apparently they're not good 73 00:03:59,600 --> 00:04:02,120 Speaker 1: for eating. Uh. They for a couple of reasons. They 74 00:04:02,160 --> 00:04:05,320 Speaker 1: don't taste great. Uh. And they are covered with these 75 00:04:06,080 --> 00:04:09,920 Speaker 1: uh it's almost like an armored scale. Uh. They're called 76 00:04:10,000 --> 00:04:16,039 Speaker 1: annoid scales, and it's like that um sort of um 77 00:04:16,080 --> 00:04:19,080 Speaker 1: like an armor you would see on a dinosaur basically, right. Yeah, 78 00:04:19,080 --> 00:04:22,040 Speaker 1: they're very dinosaur like. And yeah, and the the even 79 00:04:22,080 --> 00:04:25,040 Speaker 1: if you can dress them or I should say clean 80 00:04:25,120 --> 00:04:28,440 Speaker 1: them to eat, like the meat that you get off of, 81 00:04:28,440 --> 00:04:30,599 Speaker 1: it's not going to be very good. And if you 82 00:04:30,680 --> 00:04:33,880 Speaker 1: find any row or fish eggs in a guar, you 83 00:04:33,880 --> 00:04:36,320 Speaker 1: want to leave those alone because they're toxic no matter 84 00:04:36,360 --> 00:04:39,440 Speaker 1: what gar species you're dealing with. So yeah, not really 85 00:04:39,480 --> 00:04:42,479 Speaker 1: a delicacy in any way, shape or form. Should we 86 00:04:42,480 --> 00:04:44,440 Speaker 1: take a break, I say, we take a break and 87 00:04:44,440 --> 00:04:47,320 Speaker 1: then we'll come back and talk more about alligator car 88 00:05:12,240 --> 00:05:15,000 Speaker 1: so um, chuck. I found out some pretty interesting stuff 89 00:05:15,000 --> 00:05:20,120 Speaker 1: about them. That an alligator gar is a an opportunistic 90 00:05:20,160 --> 00:05:23,000 Speaker 1: eater and it will eat basically anything. I saw that. 91 00:05:23,040 --> 00:05:25,360 Speaker 1: They'll eat deer and raccoons if they get a chance. 92 00:05:26,000 --> 00:05:31,720 Speaker 1: They'll eat waterfowl, turtles, crabs, other fish. Um. But one 93 00:05:31,800 --> 00:05:33,960 Speaker 1: of the ways that they catch some of these things, 94 00:05:34,080 --> 00:05:37,000 Speaker 1: especially some of the harder to harder to catch ones, um, 95 00:05:37,040 --> 00:05:40,400 Speaker 1: they play dead. They ambush their prey by playing debt. 96 00:05:40,520 --> 00:05:44,120 Speaker 1: They'll float and make another fisher, a raccoon or something 97 00:05:44,160 --> 00:05:46,320 Speaker 1: that's going to swim past, think that it's dead. Then 98 00:05:46,320 --> 00:05:48,920 Speaker 1: all of a sudden it grabs it out of the 99 00:05:48,960 --> 00:05:52,520 Speaker 1: water and that thing is dead. And uh, they do 100 00:05:52,600 --> 00:05:55,080 Speaker 1: eat all those things, and they have those huge alligator 101 00:05:55,200 --> 00:05:59,560 Speaker 1: like mouths and teeth, so they're super scary, but apparently 102 00:05:59,600 --> 00:06:02,600 Speaker 1: they're they're not gonna come after you. Um. I was 103 00:06:02,720 --> 00:06:05,920 Speaker 1: just being a little, uh, a little baby boy the 104 00:06:05,920 --> 00:06:07,960 Speaker 1: other day when I got scared and wouldn't jump in. 105 00:06:08,000 --> 00:06:09,640 Speaker 1: If I would have jumped in, this thing would have 106 00:06:09,680 --> 00:06:12,560 Speaker 1: scattered and gone far away. It wouldn't have said, you know, 107 00:06:12,760 --> 00:06:16,360 Speaker 1: human arm must eat. Uh. They're they're just not going 108 00:06:16,400 --> 00:06:18,000 Speaker 1: to come after you, so you don't need to fear. 109 00:06:18,000 --> 00:06:20,800 Speaker 1: I think there's never been on record a case of 110 00:06:21,320 --> 00:06:24,360 Speaker 1: I'll get her guard attacking somebody, right right, Yeah, that's 111 00:06:24,360 --> 00:06:26,240 Speaker 1: what I've seen as well. But I mean, I guess 112 00:06:26,240 --> 00:06:29,240 Speaker 1: if you had seen a gar that was floating, you 113 00:06:29,279 --> 00:06:31,680 Speaker 1: would have wanted to steer clear that one, because maybe 114 00:06:31,720 --> 00:06:35,159 Speaker 1: it wasn't ambush your arm. You know, you said that 115 00:06:35,200 --> 00:06:37,039 Speaker 1: you saw him in your lake. I'm taking it that 116 00:06:37,120 --> 00:06:39,920 Speaker 1: your No name lake is freshwater, right, I know it's 117 00:06:39,920 --> 00:06:43,919 Speaker 1: a saltwater lake in the middle of Georgia. You never know. Uh, 118 00:06:44,000 --> 00:06:47,160 Speaker 1: there's some saltiness in Georgia for sure. Uh. Yeah, it's 119 00:06:47,200 --> 00:06:49,840 Speaker 1: it's freshwater. Uh. And they're they're only in North America, 120 00:06:49,880 --> 00:06:52,800 Speaker 1: which is pretty surprising. Yeah, but they used to be 121 00:06:52,839 --> 00:06:55,000 Speaker 1: Remember we said that their fossils have been data back 122 00:06:55,000 --> 00:06:56,960 Speaker 1: to a hundred million years. They used to be found 123 00:06:56,960 --> 00:06:59,000 Speaker 1: all over the place. But yeah, now they're only in 124 00:06:59,000 --> 00:07:02,760 Speaker 1: North America. There are freshwater species and they tend to 125 00:07:02,920 --> 00:07:07,400 Speaker 1: like um, parts of like bodies of water with poor oxygen, 126 00:07:07,880 --> 00:07:10,280 Speaker 1: so like um, say like maybe a cove where you'd 127 00:07:10,360 --> 00:07:14,160 Speaker 1: launch a boat, um, or a backwater of a river 128 00:07:14,320 --> 00:07:17,960 Speaker 1: that's kind of outside of the turbulence, or even swamps 129 00:07:18,040 --> 00:07:21,120 Speaker 1: or bayous. And one reason they can survive in these 130 00:07:21,200 --> 00:07:23,640 Speaker 1: kind of lower oxygen environments is they have an air 131 00:07:23,680 --> 00:07:27,600 Speaker 1: bladder that not only helps them float, it also distributes 132 00:07:27,640 --> 00:07:30,920 Speaker 1: oxygen to their blood. Uh slowly but surely, so they 133 00:07:30,920 --> 00:07:32,960 Speaker 1: don't have to take in that much oxygen because they 134 00:07:32,960 --> 00:07:35,280 Speaker 1: can hold a bunch at once. Yeah. And I think 135 00:07:36,440 --> 00:07:38,560 Speaker 1: it's I think they're in Central America too. I just 136 00:07:38,600 --> 00:07:41,080 Speaker 1: want to put that on the record. So let's say 137 00:07:41,080 --> 00:07:47,120 Speaker 1: the Americas, but not South America. Men, these these alligator 138 00:07:47,160 --> 00:07:49,640 Speaker 1: are are really tough to pin down. I think North 139 00:07:49,680 --> 00:07:53,320 Speaker 1: and Central America because I did seek something about Costa Rica, uh, 140 00:07:53,760 --> 00:07:58,760 Speaker 1: which is okay, So the America's okay. Um. So people 141 00:07:58,800 --> 00:08:00,960 Speaker 1: just because you don't eat them, people still do fish 142 00:08:01,000 --> 00:08:03,440 Speaker 1: for them, like this guy. I think they are sort 143 00:08:03,480 --> 00:08:07,040 Speaker 1: of um. There are a lot of regulations in place 144 00:08:07,120 --> 00:08:11,280 Speaker 1: because they are really slow to to reach the age 145 00:08:11,280 --> 00:08:14,080 Speaker 1: where they can make little gar um. They spawn in 146 00:08:14,160 --> 00:08:18,880 Speaker 1: very specialized areas, so they're very ripe for over fishing 147 00:08:19,080 --> 00:08:24,160 Speaker 1: and for you know, like shrinking of species. But um, 148 00:08:24,280 --> 00:08:27,120 Speaker 1: for that reason, they're highly highly regulated and you're basically, 149 00:08:27,440 --> 00:08:29,000 Speaker 1: at least in Florida and I think a lot of 150 00:08:29,040 --> 00:08:31,440 Speaker 1: other places, you're only going to be given a permit 151 00:08:31,640 --> 00:08:35,640 Speaker 1: to fish for these things if it's scientific research or 152 00:08:35,679 --> 00:08:38,360 Speaker 1: you're working in like managing the species or something like that. 153 00:08:38,559 --> 00:08:40,600 Speaker 1: I tittered earlier, by the way, I want to say, 154 00:08:40,800 --> 00:08:43,360 Speaker 1: at an inappropriate time, but it was because you said 155 00:08:43,880 --> 00:08:46,120 Speaker 1: they're ripe for over fishing, and I just thought of 156 00:08:46,120 --> 00:08:52,640 Speaker 1: a ripe car and that sounds so gross. They're scary looking. Uh. 157 00:08:52,679 --> 00:08:56,280 Speaker 1: Early on though that, like you know, early earlier humans 158 00:08:56,840 --> 00:08:59,160 Speaker 1: would fish for them and do all sorts of things 159 00:08:59,200 --> 00:09:02,640 Speaker 1: that arm are like those armor like scales, those gonoid scales. 160 00:09:03,160 --> 00:09:05,400 Speaker 1: They made jewelry out of them and tools and things 161 00:09:05,440 --> 00:09:08,200 Speaker 1: like that because they're really tough. And I think they 162 00:09:08,200 --> 00:09:12,320 Speaker 1: would use their their skin for products and the skin 163 00:09:12,440 --> 00:09:19,080 Speaker 1: oil for different things. Yeah, who knows, what, do you 164 00:09:19,120 --> 00:09:21,559 Speaker 1: have anything else? I don't have anything else. I think 165 00:09:21,559 --> 00:09:26,000 Speaker 1: we've talked alligator alligator car to death. Well, I guess 166 00:09:26,040 --> 00:09:28,200 Speaker 1: the last thing we should mention is is that they 167 00:09:28,800 --> 00:09:31,600 Speaker 1: um even though they do our opportunistic eaters. I think 168 00:09:31,640 --> 00:09:34,439 Speaker 1: there used to be an idea that they would devastate 169 00:09:34,480 --> 00:09:38,960 Speaker 1: other fish populations, and that's apparently not the case. Right, Yeah, 170 00:09:39,000 --> 00:09:41,079 Speaker 1: that's right. So they were over fished because they were 171 00:09:41,080 --> 00:09:43,520 Speaker 1: considered a nuisance fish. So they were trying to protect 172 00:09:43,520 --> 00:09:46,239 Speaker 1: the fish that they wanted by fishing the car alligator 173 00:09:46,280 --> 00:09:49,080 Speaker 1: car out. But it turns out they were wrong. I 174 00:09:49,120 --> 00:09:51,960 Speaker 1: do have one more thing. Okay, the name gar for 175 00:09:52,040 --> 00:09:55,400 Speaker 1: these fishes comes from the Anglo Saxon word for spear. 176 00:09:57,000 --> 00:10:00,040 Speaker 1: That is good. And I've got one more thing. I 177 00:10:00,080 --> 00:10:02,280 Speaker 1: cannot help but think of a gar fish without thinking 178 00:10:02,280 --> 00:10:06,280 Speaker 1: of the great great documentary Vernon Florida, my favorite documentary 179 00:10:06,280 --> 00:10:09,400 Speaker 1: of all time, but the great Errol Morris and uh, 180 00:10:09,920 --> 00:10:12,200 Speaker 1: one of the characters, the guy that talks like this, 181 00:10:13,400 --> 00:10:16,400 Speaker 1: He talks about swimming in the river and oh, you 182 00:10:16,520 --> 00:10:18,960 Speaker 1: come u up on one of those garfish. You're a 183 00:10:19,000 --> 00:10:23,680 Speaker 1: better lookout brother. Really. And I saw that movie in college, right, 184 00:10:23,720 --> 00:10:25,160 Speaker 1: I didn't know what a garfish was. And it it was 185 00:10:25,200 --> 00:10:27,280 Speaker 1: many years later that I saw a guar and I 186 00:10:27,320 --> 00:10:29,920 Speaker 1: was like, oh, I get it now, I gotta see 187 00:10:29,920 --> 00:10:35,199 Speaker 1: that movie. It's just there's nothing like it. Yeah, uh, 188 00:10:35,320 --> 00:10:38,160 Speaker 1: you got anything else? I think, Yeah, you got anything else? 189 00:10:38,320 --> 00:10:41,720 Speaker 1: I got nothing else? All right, Well, that means everybody's 190 00:10:41,720 --> 00:10:47,280 Speaker 1: short stuff is out. Stuff you Should Know is a 191 00:10:47,280 --> 00:10:50,640 Speaker 1: production of iHeart Radio. For more podcasts my heart Radio, 192 00:10:50,880 --> 00:10:53,880 Speaker 1: visit the I heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever 193 00:10:53,920 --> 00:10:55,319 Speaker 1: you listen to your favorite shows.