Log Gar - [fearsome critter]

Log Gar - [fearsome critter] - latin: "Lepisosteus longicornus multidentata"

• About this critter: A Tremendous long-nosed Gar-fish with a snout armed with huge saw-like teeth. With quick swish of its snoz; it was able to slice a log clean in two to get at a tender log-driving timber man!! The huge fish would quickly shred them into minced meat!

• History: Another fearsome critter  Earliest direct mention of log-gars seems to be in "Paul Bunyans Natural History." [1935]  The short entry goes as follows:

"LOG GAR. These big fish had a snout so well armed with large saw teeth that they could saw right through a log to get at a juicy lumberjack. Once in the water they made mince meat of him"

There's really not much more to this critter other than the fairly obvious pun: The "Log Gar" kills "Loggers." – Although the fish doesn't seem to appear in any earlier Paul Bunyan literature (at least that which I could find from the early days) - Never the less, it became quite the popular critter and a cornerstone to be catalogued among others in various bestiaries & books on the subject of American folklore such as the "Standard dictionary of folklore" [1949], the "Treasury of American folklore" [1950] etc. The description included in "Paul Bunyan's Natural History" has stayed as is for years and was often 'copied' between various jokebooks & other amusing literature from the time. 

The creature was further elaborated on in "Mythical Creatures of the USA and Canada" [Wyman, 1969] - Wyman gave the critter its proper Latin name and clarified that it was "a fish reported on the Mississippi, presumably disappearing when the logging days closed and there were no more lumberjacks to eat."  - The same year, The log gar was also depicted in "Gillygalloos and Gollywoppers" [Ennis Rees, 1969] as 'an enormous fish with teeth nothing can stop' - the few times it has been depicted, its usually drawn as a "small fish with huge fangs"

for some reason the "Log Gar" has rarely been depicted as its namesake; "Gar-fish" in reality are skinny fish with long snouts needle-thin teeth & armoured scales relatives to 'Pikes.' - The largest of the species on the Mississippi is known as the "Alligator Gar" (actually America's largest predatory freshwater fish.) it matches the critter description fairly closely: growing up to 10ft long and weighing up to 300 pounds or more!!! (Though such sizes are rare today: The world record holder for the largest alligator gar was caught in a lake near the Mississippi!) - The fish's intimidating, thin teeth,, are actually one of its vulnerabilities. - A news article about Gar-Pikes, from 1928 mentions that the name "Gar" seems to derive from the Anglo-Saxton word for "weapon or spear" - Seeing that the fish was well-armed in the mouth, they named it as such. - The same article also mentions that large Gar fish are sometimes mistaken for logs, as they tend to wait near the surface for their prey to swim by. - One can assume that log drivers & fishermen likely saw or caught these terrifying fish whilst on the Mississippi; and exaggerated tales came them from there forward, eventually resulting in the "Log Gar" (Its Quite a similar origin to the "Cougarfish" really, another reoccurring water obstacle for Paul & his men)

[a big one... caught on Moon Lake, Mississippi, 1910]

[a young alligator garfish showing off its fangs. source: Missouri Department of Conservation.]

I depicted it how i felt a logger might have drawn it, if chainsaws had been more prevalent at the time. - [On that note: it should probably also be said that the first portable gasoline-powered "chainsaws" used for lumbering were only invented in 1918, and only began mass-production by 1927!] - I drew a literal 'saw fish' (not to be confused with the 'sawfish', a real species of saltwater shark with a similarity iconic nose, for that matter this one should not be confused with the bassigator!) i wanted it to feel something like a swordfish i suppose.

-- While I'm on the topic of "fish with funny noses" there are a few other folkloric parallels such as the swamp auger, and the opium pipe fish, but of course it should go without saying, The "Log Gar" is without a doubt, a diminutive (but deadly) relative to "The Crosscut Billed Woofle fish" a massive saltwater fish said to be found in the Gulf of Mexico somewhere in the oceans near Florida; mentioned & depicted only once from an incredibly reliable source; (as far as paul bunyan stories go) - a children's pictorial map! – Paul apparently killed it to make his nail-files, below it is depicted with a long saw (or nail file.) like nose....

[Paul bunyan pictoral map 1935]

..some of Paul's nail clippings are still around today, you can see them for yourself along with several giant items In the visitor center next to the Paul Bunyan statue of Bemidji, MN!

...and there you have it!

Art Sticker by @Samkalensky, part of my 'fearsome critters' collection of stickers check my shop and support me on patreon for many more!