You may be surprised that the largest, freshwater fish in North America may be swimming in the Mississippi River under the I-20/Hwy. 80 bridges at Vicksburg as you are reading this. The Alligator Gar is a monster-sized fish, capable of exceeding 300 pounds described as a beautifully grotesque fish in Mark Spitzer’s book “Beautifully Grotesque Fish of the American West.” Many scientists refer to Alligator Gar as a “living fossil” because they have remained relatively unchanged for over a 100 million years.  The broad snout and double row of upper teeth resemble an alligator, hence their name.

During most of the 1900’s, Alligator Gar were considered a “trash fish,” essentially useless, and possibly damaging to the environment, similar to carp. Because of their size and voracious appetites, fisherman assumed they were eating their prized sportfish, like Largemouth Bass, crappie, and Bluegill. They were targeted for elimination by state wildlife agencies and the numbers of Alligator Gar quickly diminished. More recently, scientific studies have shown that this species primarily eats forage fish, like Gizzard Shad, and also occasionally enjoys an unwary duck or a feisty beaver swimming along the surface.

Modern ecology has warned us not to eliminate apex predators from the environment without unintended consequences. Maybe that is one reason invasive carp continue to spread throughout the Mississippi River basin – there are no natural predators large enough to consume that many carp to make a difference in their growing numbers, except maybe the Alligator Gar. Now, state and federal agencies are stocking these fish back into their native ranges and numbers are steadily increasing.

Who wouldn’t want to catch a 300-pound fish? Actually, the Mississippi state rod and reel record is 215 pounds, bow and arrow record is 234 pounds, but the largest Alligator Gar caught in the state was in Lake Chotard in 2011, right upstream from Vicksburg, weighing 327 pounds!

Not only are Alligator Gar fun to catch, many people enjoy eating them like Cajun gar balls, usually fried, and I have heard that the backstrap is delicious. A word of caution – do not eat the greenish eggs for they are toxic to humans. But there are other uses. For those of you who live close to the Mississippi River during the spring, I recently read that gar oil was used by the people of Arkansas as a repellant for those pesky buffalo gnats coming from the river to bite you and leave week-long sores on your skin after they consume your blood to nourish their developing eggs. On a lighter note, the serrated ganoid scales that cover the fish, resembling a coat of armor, are used to fashion jewelry such as necklaces.

Folks sometimes ask if it’s safe to swim in the Mississippi River. During the summer, the Louisiana shore across from Vicksburg often resembles the Mississippi Gulf coast during spring break with boats tied together, umbrellas lining the beach, and people wading, swimming, and riding their jet-powered water bikes. The Mississippi River may have more sandy beaches than all of the beaches in Florida combined.

So other than an occasional bull shark (that’s another story), I am not aware of any other fish in the Mississippi River that will intentionally attack a human including Alligator Gar. In fact, Jeremy Wade of “River Monsters” concluded in one of his shows that there has never been any evidence that Alligator Gar attacked or killed humans.

Alligator Gar are a keystone species roaming around in America’s greatest river providing recreational fishing opportunities, food for humans, and control of invasive species. Maybe you will encounter one of these “beautifully grotesque” fish one day.

Jack Killgore, Ph.D., is a resident of Vicksburg. Prior to retirement, he was a long-time employee of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (ERDC). He also serves as an enrichment speaker on the Viking Mississippi and teaches river science courses at Tulane University. He can be reached at kjkillgore@gmail.com.

Read his first column, “How Deep is the Mississippi River?,“ by clicking here.

JACKSON, Miss.—Incumbent U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker, a Mississippi Republican who supports legislation that could ban abortion from the moment of conception, easily won reelection on Tuesday night and will serve another six-year term representing Mississippi in Congress. He defeated Democratic candidate Ty Pinkins.

Wicker told the Mississippi Free Press he sought reelection to complete some unfinished business in Mississippi including assisting small businesses, helping veterans, strengthening the military, and completing flood-control projects in Jackson, Miss., and the Delta.

“Some tax provisions that encourage job creation are about to expire. We need to renew those and make sure we take the regulatory burden off small businesses owners. They’re the ones who created the jobs in America,” he told the Mississippi Free Press on Tuesday.

Pinkins told the Mississippi Free Press that he ran for U.S. Senate, in part, because rich farm owners in the Delta had brought in white South African immigrants to do work and paid them more during training than they paid the Black farmers who had been working on the farms for years.

Pinkins’ campaign also focused on supporting women’s reproductive rights, including the right to abortion.

Wicker has fought to restrict abortion rights multiple times since he started his time in the U.S. Senate in 2007. He also voted against federal protections for same-sex couples. Pinkins ran in support of codifying protections offered under Roe v. Wade before the U.S. Supreme Court overturned it.

“Thank you for your unwavering support, your votes, and for giving me the privilege of representing your hopes and your aspirations,” Pinkins wrote in a tweet on Wednesday.

With 98% of the vote counted as of Wednesday at 10:20 a.m., Wicker secured 63% of the vote, with 668,802 Mississippians choosing him for reelection; Pinkins got 37% of the vote with 393,330 Mississippians selecting him on their ballots.

Mississippi’s four incumbents in the House of Representatives also all won reelection. Republican U.S. House Rep. Trent Kelly won 69.9% of the vote while Democrat Dianne Dodson Black won 30.1% in Mississippi’s 1st Congressional District.

Democratic U.S. House Rep. Bennie Thompson secured 61.7% of the vote over Republican candidate Ron Eller’s 38.3% in Mississippi’s 2nd Congressional District. Thompson is the only Democrat in Mississippi’s congressional delegation. He told the press at his watch party in Bolton, Miss., that some of his top priorities are helping Mississippi’s health care system, building hospitals in rural areas, upgrading the highway system and sponsoring a farm bill to support the agricultural industry.

“We have to have a farm bill that benefits everyone, not just the rich, but everyone. And so I hope to go back and work on a farm bill that’s balanced on who supports it but also who the beneficiaries are,” he said on Tuesday night.

Republican U.S. Rep. Michael Guest ran unopposed in Mississippi’s 3rd Congressional District and won. 

“I’m honored to be re-elected to serve as your congressman and to represent our conservative values in our nation’s capital,” Guest tweeted on Tuesday evening.

In Mississippi’s 4th Congressional District, Republican U.S. House Rep. Mike Ezell won 74.6% of the vote and just 25.4% of people voted for Democrat Craig Raybon, who said in October that he was withdrawing from the race.

“I’ll continue to be an open book. Come to Washington, we’ll take care of you. Anything I can do for my office as far as your congressman, I’ll be glad to help,” Ezell told WLOX on Tuesday night.

Related

Tecumseh Products Company, a refrigeration and air conditioning products manufacturer, is upgrading its facility in Northeast Mississippi. The project, in the town of Verona in Lee County, is a corporate investment of more than $3.4 million and will support 135 jobs, according to a statement from the Mississippi Development Authority.

Based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, Tecumseh produces a variety of products for use in residential and commercial refrigeration and air conditioning applications. The company is a global manufacturer of hermetic compressors, condensing units and associated systems.

“As Tecumseh focuses on our next 90 years, our Verona facility is a critical element in our future success. These improvements to the site enable us to modernize our facility to improve our competitiveness in the marketplace and our standing as a preferred employer in the Greater Tupelo area,” Tecumseh North America Managing Director Greg Dwyer said in a statement.

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The investment project includes repairs and upgrades to the roof and lighting in the company’s Verona facility, along with additional improvements to employee common spaces and offices. The company also will make modifications to its production layout to improve its competitiveness in the North America market.

“This project not only strengthens the company’s long-term commitment to Mississippi, it also ensures the retention of 135 valuable jobs,” MDA Executive Director Bill Cork said. “The upgrades being made at the Verona facility will enhance Tecumseh’s operational efficiency and support its continued growth, both of which benefit the local workforce and economy.”

Improvements to the Verona facility are expected to be complete in the first quarter of 2025.

Ross Reily can be reached by email at rreily@gannett.com or 601-573-2952. You can follow him on the X platform, formerly known as Twitter @GreenOkra1.