Lepisosteidae Agassiz 1832

Angulo, Arturo, Betts, Joel T., González-Alemán, Néstor J., Castañeda, Edgar, Berghe, Eric Van Den, Elías, Diego J., Mcmahan, Caleb D. & Matamoros, Wilfredo A., 2023, Continental fishes of Nicaragua: diversity, distribution and conservation status; with an annotated and illustrated checklist of species and an identification guide to families, Zootaxa 5376 (1), pp. 1-89 : 12

Family Lepisosteidae Agassiz 1832 ( Fig. 2E ). Gars; Gaspares, Pejelagartos

Description: Body elongate, cylindrical; up to 300 cm in length; nostrils at front of snout; snout long and conical, with large fangs in both jaws; scales ganoid, about 50–65 along the lateral line; dorsal fin far posterior, with few rays; abbreviated heterocercal tail ( Robertson & Allen 2015, Nelson et al. 2016). Distribution: Freshwater, occasionally brackish, very rarely in marine water; eastern North America, Central America (south to Costa Rica) and Cuba (Nelson et al. 2016). One genus and one species in Nicaraguan freshwaters.

Figures

FIGURE 2. Families of continental fishes of Nicaragua, part 1; Carcharhinidae (A), Pristidae (B), Dasyatidae (C), Potamotrygonidae (D), Lepisosteidae (E), Elopidae (F), Megalopidae (G), Ophichthidae (H), Anguillidae (I), Engraulidae (J), Pristigasteridae (K), Dorosomatidae (L) and Cyprinidae (M). Illustrations adapted (with permission) from Nelson et al. (2016) and Angulo et al. (2021).