Biologists Find Spotted Gar For First Time In Chicago Area Waterways
(CBS) -- Biologists are delighted with finding of a fish that looks like a crocodile with fins, right here in the Chicago area, reports WBBM's John Cody.
State biologists hauled a spotted gar from the waters of the North Shore Channel in Lincolnwood. The fish is 2.5 feet long, tan with brown spots and a long, long snout and from a line of fish older than the dinosaurs.
"The spotted gar is very picky about its habitat so they usually require clear water and ample amounts of vegetation so when you find a fish that is picky about where it lives in somewhere like the North Shore Channel, it suggests that there could be some decent habitat there," said Shedd fish ecologist Dr. Solomon David.
Dr. David says the next step is to find out if this is a particularly adventurous spotted gar, or one of several which would suggest north channel waters are indeed getting cleaner.