Getting To Know Gar Aligator Fish: The Origin, The Impact On The Environment, And The Rules In Indonesia

Aligator fish gar (IST)

YOGYAKARTA People who like to care for animals certainly know aligator fish gar. These fish are known as one of the water predators that prey on other animals that live in the waters ranging from fish, turtles, water mammals, and so on.

Aligator gar fish can now be found in Indonesia. But its existence is quite controversial. The following is information about agirgar fish gar.

Reporting from the official website of the Faculty of Fisheries and Marine Affairs, Universitas Airlangga, the alligator gar is one type of predatory fish from North America. Currently, many of these fish are sent to various countries as part of the aquarium trade.

Reporting from the journal ZOO INDONESIA: Fauna Tropika Journal, aligator gar fish has seven species, namely as follows.

Aligator gar is quite easy to spot because it has quite specific characteristics. In addition, the shape is also quite scary for some people. Here are some of the characteristics of the gar alligator fish.

As explained earlier, the gar alligator comes from North America. These fish live in freshwater waters that can be in rivers, lakes, swamps, bays, or in an artificial ecosystem. However, usually these fish are more comfortable in slow water.

One of the highlights of the gar alligator is that this fish is able to survive with low oxygen conditions. This happens because of the fish's respiratory system that allows these fish to catch air.

In its natural ecosystem, this fish is indeed quite important because it is a peak predator that keeps the fish population balanced. Unfortunately, this fish is dangerous if released into the ecosystem outside its natural habitat. This is because this alligator will prey on endemic fish so that the number can continue to decrease and even become extinct.

The threat of endemic fish reduction is due to the fact that the gar alligator is very aggressive even though he lives in solitary or not in groups. The way this fish hunt also resembles crocodiles, which is by hiding between water plants and then ambushing their surrounding prey.

It should be noted that the gar alligator fish is one of seven types of dangerous fish. Therefore, the gar alligator is prohibited from entering Indonesia. This provision is as stipulated in the Decree of the Minister of Agriculture 179/Kpts/UM/3/1882.

In addition, on July 2, 2018, the Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries (KKP) confirmed the ban on ownership and circulation of 152 dangerous fish species in Indonesian waters. One of the fish species prohibited is the alligator fish.

Even though there has been an official ban, unfortunately many people have included this fish in Indonesia and even released it. It is feared that this condition will make Indonesian native fish continue to decrease.

In addition to getting to know the aligator gar fish, visit VOI.id to get other interesting information.