BHUBANESWAR: City-based Snake Helpline activists rescued a rare variety of fish - Alligator Gar - from Bindusagar tank here on the wee hours of Friday. The Alligator Gar fish was entangled in a net of a local fisherman who informed the Snake Helpline.
After coordinated efforts of Snake Helpline general secretary Suvendu Mallik and Wildlife Department authorities, the rare fish was shifted to Nandankanan Zoo.
‘’This is a rare and exotic variety of fish. Alligator Gar is among the few breeds of fish which are pre-historic and have not undergone evolutionary changes,’’ said Assistant Director of Nandankanan Zoo KL Purohit.
The fish has been kept in a special glass enclosure which will be open for public in a couple of days. The zoo authorities are preparing an informative write-up on the Alligator Gar variety which will be displayed alongside the aquarium.
The fish has a tooth-filled wide mouth and an alligator like snout. An Alligator Gar can grow up to eight feet and is highly predatory and carnivorous. It can prey on birds, fish and other aquatic creatures.
Ponds and water bodies like Bindusagar are not the natural habitat of an Alligator Gar which is usually found in temperate estuarine areas. However, it is yet to be spotted in estuaries such as the Bhitarakanika in Odisha.
Being an exotic variety, Alligator Gars are kept as an aquarium fish in India. Since it causes damage to native varieties of fish, there are chances that someone would have released the fish into Bindusagar after it grew in size, Purohit added.