When problems get ugly in the fish realm, you need to get uglier. I’ll explain.

One of the ugliest fish in our nation is the alligator gar, a throwback to Cretaceous times. It has the head of a particularly unpleasant alligator and the body of a pike, though the body doesn’t much matter when you sport an ugly-ass alligator head, with row after row of nightmarish teeth gleaming forth.

Now their ugliness is looking beautiful to folks desperately trying to fight an ugly invader, the Asian carp. But is this instant gar appreciation too little too late?

BIG AND REELING: Giant gars are able to contend with real alligators, size-wise.