WARNING: GRAPHIC (but educational) – A throwback to our research on Spotted Gar (Lepisosteus oculatus) ecology in 2011, here’s an impromptu video on sex determination of the species.

In order to better understand species’ population and life history characteristics (and inform conservation and management), we need to know its size and age structure, as well as variation of that structure between males and females. In general, the sex of gars cannot be determined externally, therefore a population sample is dissected for internal examination. We used other structures of the fish (otoliths, rays, bones, etc) for additional analyses.

references:
Ferrara & Irwin 2001
A Standardized Procedure for Internal Sex Identification in Lepisosteidae
http://bit.ly/1AhB4Et

David 2012
Life history, growth, and genetic diversity of the spotted gar (Lepisosteus oculatus) from peripheral and core populations
http://bit.ly/1DdgomL