INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - It's a fish that didn't get away: A rare alligator gar more than 5 feet long has been caught in Indiana waters.
The Indiana Department of Natural Resources says a bow fisherman caught the gar legally in the White River in southwestern Indiana on June 1. It measured 63 inches and 55 pounds when examined by the DNR.
It's the first alligator gar verified by state biologists in recent history. Indiana is at the northern edge of the historic range of alligator gar.
DNR fisheries biologists have sampled Indiana's large rivers extensively for the last 30 years without collecting any alligator gar.
The agency says alligator gar were once persecuted and vilified as killers of game fish, but they're now recognized for their role as a top-level predator.
