I have seen them scavenge too, the strangest thing it ate was a live adult
toad. Toads are not eaten by many things, because they excrete a toxic
substance from the two large bumps, or paratoid glands. Stranger than that,
I once caught a northern pike with stomach full of acorns. My guess is it
was fall and they were falling of the trees and the pike grabbed them when
they spalshed down on the surface. This pike was probably very hungry, it
was in a small pond in the forest, and very few other fish were in this
pond.
I once had a longnose that would eat pelleted food, but only the more
expensive high grade cichlid pellets. I thought that it did this because I
tried feeding it prepared food since it was an inch long.
I hope to get some pictures of the "river' on my web site soon.
Ray
> Assuming that this is a true alligator gar, Atractosteus spathula, then it
> may be relevant to know that in the wild alligator gars scavenge to
> supplement their predatory habits. Years ago, one alligator gar was found
> with a heat indicator from a diesel engine in its stomach! And in
Louisiana,
> the alligator gar has been known to eat garbage.
>
> Your gar river sounds awesome!
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