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iki jime Fish Finder
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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.