Alligator Gar Washes Up in Japan After Typhoon Jebi

Japanese citizens were shocked when they saw an alligator gar in the street after the flooding caused by Typhoon Jebi receded.

Video footage captured near the Aiga River in Osaka showed the gar hanging over the side of a walkway, stuck under a railing.

The alligator appears to be 5 to 6 feet long, with a wide midsection.

The person who recorded the video didn’t approach the alligator gar, since the species is not from Japan, according to the news service Spectee.

Alligator Gar

Alligator gar are from North America but have disappeared from parts of the Mississippi River due to overfishing, development, and other factors, according to Dan O'Keefe of the Michigan State University Extension.

In an effort to control Asian carp in the river, alligator gar have been a focus in recent years, with officials reintroducing the gar into the river system.

Gar’s historic diet has been whatever fish over eight-inches-long are available, which in many cases means plankton-eating fish like shad; bass and panfish are also eaten by gar.

According to the Florida Museum of Natural History, alligator gar can be traced back into the Cretaceous Period, nearly 145 million years ago.

“They are most common in aquatic and brackish water habitats of southeastern North America and their range extends to more northern parts of the Mississippi watershed,” the museum stated. They can grow to be 6 feet long and over 100 pounds. The largest ever recorded, caught in 2011, was 8.5 feet long, weighed 327 pounds and was estimated to be 94 years old.

Unlike other gators, alligator gar are not aggressive toward people.

Kansai International Airport is partially flooded by Typhoon Jebi in Osaka, western Japan, Sept. 5, 2018. The powerful typhoon slammed into western Japan on Sept. 4, 2018, inundating the region's main international airport and blowing a tanker into a bridge, disrupting land and air travel and leaving thousands stranded. (Hiroko Harima/Kyodo News via AP)

Typhoon Jebi Update

A major Japanese airport flooded by a typhoon partially reopened on Sept. 7 after officials promised round-the-clock work to repair damage and make the travel hub ready for passengers.

Domestic flights at Kansai International Airport were expected to resume Friday and international flights later. The indefinite closure of the western airport that is a gateway to Osaka, Kyoto, and Kobe had raised concerns about the impact on Japan’s economy and tourism.

Kansai Airports CEO Yoshiyuki Yamaya emphasized at a news conference that the reopening would be partial. He said work would be done through the night.

One of the airport’s two runways and part of a terminal building were flooded and the bridge connecting the airport to the mainland was damaged when Typhoon Jebi swept through on Sept. 4.

The strongest typhoon to hit Japan in 25 years caused 11 deaths and damage in and around Osaka.

The Kansai Airport served 28 million passengers last year. It handles exports of computer chips, electronics parts, and other cargo while importing into Japan mostly medical goods.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

From NTD.tv