Atlantic tarpon

Appearance

In appearance, Tarpons are greenish or bluish on top and silver on the sides. The large mouth is turned upwards and the lower jaw contains an elongated bony plate. The last ray of the dorsal fin is much longer than the others, reaching nearly to the tail.

Behavior

Tarpons are capable of filling their swim bladder with air, like a primitive lung. This gives Tarpons a predatory advantage when oxygen levels in the water are low. Tarpons have been recorded at up to 2.5 metres in length and weighing up to 161 kilograms. Atlantic Tarpons are also known as the silver king.

Habitat

As with all Elopiformes it is found in coastal area, spawning at sea. Diet includes smaller fish and crustaceans.

Migration

Since Tarpons are not commercially valuable as a food fish very little has been documented concerning their geographical distribution and migrations. Tarpons inhabit both sides of the Atlantic Ocean. Their range in the Eastern Atlantic has been reliably established from Senegal to the Congo. Tarpons inhabiting the western Atlantic are principally found to populate warmer coastal waters focused in the Gulf of Mexico, Florida, and the West Indies. Nonetheless, tarpon are regularly caught by anglers at Cape Hatteras and as far as Nova Scotia, Bermuda, and south to Argentina. There have been scientific studies principally “The Panama Canal as a Passageway for Fishes, with Lists and Remarks on the Fishes and Invertebrates Observed” by Samuel F. Hildebrand which indicate that schools of Tarpons have routinely migrated through the Panama Canal from the Atlantic to the Pacific and back for over 70 years. However it has not been scientifically established that they breed in the Pacific Ocean. Nevertheless anecdotal evidence by tarpon fishing guides and anglers would tend to validate this notion as over the last 60 years many small juvenile tarpon as well as mature giants have been caught and documented principally on the Pacific side of Panama at the Bayano River as well as in the Gulf of San Miguel and its tributaries but also as far as Coiba Island in the Gulf of Chiriquí plus at Piñas Bay in the Gulf of Panama. It would seem that since Tarpons tolerate wide ranges in salinity throughout their lives and will eat almost anything dead or alive, that their migrations are only limited by water temperatures. Tarpons prefer water temperatures of 72 to 82°F, below 60 degrees they become inactive and temperatures under 40°F can be lethal.