Why it's awesome: With their long snout, thick armored scales, and two rows of piercing teeth, these huge fish could easily be mistaken for a ferocious gator — hence their common name: alligator gar.

Young alligator gars from an Illinois state fish hatchery are transferred in a net to their new home in the Kaskaskia River on Tuesday, Oct. 24, 2017. Reintroduction efforts in the Illinois have been ...

In a freshwater canal surrounded by mangroves in southern Guatemala, hundreds of baby tropical gars—a torpedo-shaped fish with an alligator-like snout dubbed the "fossil fish"—are released into the ...

Where it lives: Rivers, reservoirs and coastal bays in southwestern U.S. states, down to Veracruz, Mexico What it eats: Crabs, fish, birds, mammals, turtles, and carrion Why it's awesome: With their ...