How Freaky, Prehistoric Fish Got Trapped in a Fence Gar

Fish

National Geographic explorer and geoscientist Andrés Ruzo recently came upon a surprising sight in Dallas, Texas. The Trinity River had flooded, and when the waters receded he discovered that there were gar stuck in fences. In the high flood waters juvenile longnose gar (two to three feet long), swam past chain-link fences and onto flooded fields. Many never made it back to the river, perhaps because they couldn’t find the way they came in or because they were too full from feeding in the flooded fields. Regardless, these "living fossils," which have remained virtually unchanged for about a hundred million years, serve as a reminder that even large, modern cities like Dallas have an ancient wild side.

