Alligator Gar numbers continue to drop in Missouri

Missouri scientists are trying to save the state’s dwindling population of alligator gar, one of the country’s largest and most feared fish species.

Missouri Department of Conservation officials have stocked the species in locations near the Mississippi River eight times in the last 12 years.

Alligator gars have declined in part because the state doesn’t have strict regulations to prevent overfishing of the species that’s known for its long body, large snout and numerous teeth.

Nicholls State University aquatic ecologist Solomon David says levees and dams separating the Mississippi River from the flood plain also block the species from reaching critical habitat.

State fisheries management biologist Salvador Mondragon says gar prey on Asian carp and other invasive species.