Hennepin and Hopper Lakes 2

Alligator Gar (Atractosteus spatula)

A baby alligator stocked in early summer at Hennepin and Hopper Lakes in central Illinois. 

Baby Alligator Gar swimming in dense vegetation in shallow water. It is a small fish in this picture, but they can reach over 10 feet in length, making them the largest freshwater fish in North America.

Their natural range is in the southern U.S. especially along the Mississippi River basin. There has been reports of Alligator Gar in Kansas, Ohio, Nebraska, and even central Illinois, which is why I think they stocked them in these lakes. There have also been reports in Japan, Singapore, and other Asian countries.

This fish is a very popular sport fish especially for bowfishers. In the South, they are eaten as a delicacy.

This is where the baby Alligator Gar were primarily found. Naturally, Alligator Gar spawn in shallow densely vegetated areas like this one, but live in large slow moving areas of streams and lakes when adults.

A school of baby Alligator Gar eat small fish and invertebrates when small, but then move on to eating larger fish, frogs, turtles, waterfowl, or really anything they come by.

Illinois Native Fish

Green Sunfish (Lepomis cyanellus) is a very common fish in the sunfish family (Centrarchidae) that resides in shallow rivers and lakes. It likes to eat aquatic insects and other small fish.

Grass Pickerel (Esox americanus vermiculatus) is a fish in the pike family (Esocidae) that lives in shallow, eutrophic, highly vegetated, slow moving rivers and lakes.