Etymology In British English the name gar was originally used for a species of needlefish, Belone belone, found in the North Atlantic, itself likely named after the Old English word gar meaning "spear". Belone belone's now more commonly referred to as the "garpike" or "gar fish" to avoid confusion with the North American gars of the family Lepisosteidae. The genus name Lepisosteus comes from the Greek lepis meaning "scale" and osteon meaning "bone". Atractosteus's similarly derived from Greek,… (More on Lepisosteidae)