This article is about the episode. You may be looking for the fish.
Alligator Gar is the third episode of the first season of River Monsters.
General Description[]
In the deep south there's a fish reputed to have committed a series of violent attacks on humans. The creature's said to be as vicious as a shark & big as a 'gator. Jeremy Wade heads to TX to reveal the truth about the Alligator Gar.
Episode Summary[]
Jeremy Wade hears of an attack in Texas, specifically on the Trinity River. A little girl had her foot caught in something at the river's edge and had severe injuries to it. Jeremy Wade heads to Texas to find out what could be the killer.
Initially he suspects a fish, and after hearing of some more accounts he believes that it is an Alligator Gar. He hooks up with local fishermen to try and catch one. One of the men he meets is a champion gar-catcher, who has caught 7-foot specimens.
He hears that these fish are very difficult to catch but are considered "trash fish" and are thus being killed off making it hard to catch these river monsters. Jeremy goes out fishing and ends up catching a small 3 foot specimen that bites him as it is taken into the boat. Luckily the injuries were minor and Jeremy continued fishing for large specimens.
He ends up fishing more and more while hearing other reports. He manages to catch a 6-foot specimen this time, and continues trying to find a larger one but cannot after many days. In the end he decides that Alligator Gar may not have been responsible for the attack after all.
He realizes that gar would not be able to go to the shallows where the girl was attacked since it needs deeper water and now suspects the animal that the Alligator Gar derives its name from: The Alligator. He meets up with an Alligator expert and examines these animals.
He believes that these creatures are more likely to have committed the attack then the gar but just to be sure he jumps into a small pond full of gar. It is a gar estuary where hunting is illegal. After swimming for a few minutes he has not been attacked and decides to get out. He realizes that gar should not be hunted since they are important to the ecosystem. They do not attack people, since they lack the aggression.
Animals Featured[]
Locations[]
Trivia[]
- This is the only episode to be named after a fish. The episode Piranha technically isn't named after a fish, since there is no species called the Piranha, only the Red-Bellied Piranha and Black Piranha.