
Also known as:
Oxeye herring
Tarpon
Common Group Name:
Tarpons and Ladyfishes
Family Name:
Order Elopiformes
Genus Name:
Megalops
Species Name:
Megalops cyprinoides
Dispatch Method:
Tarpon are very bony and are considered to be a relatively poor eating fish, but a good sportfish that is mostly released. If you do choose to take one, their eating qualities can be improved if they are killed immediately by iki jime or a firm knock to the head before placing them in an ice slurry after bleeding.
Fish Description:
- Tarpon are large-scaled silvery fishes , olive/green dorsally, with a protrusible mouth, large eye and a single dorsal fin that has a distinctive trailing filament.
- Like their relatives, the eels, they have a transparent marine leptocephalus larval stage.
- The leptocephalus metamorphoses into juvenile tarpon that frequent estuaries and freshwater reaches of rivers.
Fish Distribution:
- This species can be found in tropical and subtropical inshore,estuarine and freshwater habitats throughout the Indo-Pacific region from the Red Sea to Marianas Islands.
- Tarpon can tolerate oxygen-poor water by inhaling air into their lung-like swim bladder.
Fish Size Common Length:
30-60 cm, maximum size around 120 cm and 18 kg.