Big Fish
Atlantic Tarpon
Megalops atlanticus · Bony fish — family Megalopidae
Tarpon are armored in the ocean's shiniest currency — scales like minted coins, a scoop jaw set in permanent skepticism, eyes the size of golf balls. By day they hover in silver rows inside Cayman grottos and cenote mouths, unbothered by divers a fin's length away; by night they turn into muscle and reflex, using dive lights as hunting lamps and hitting baitfish with strikes you feel as pressure. The species barely registers as food fish through much of its range — the sport is in the jump, anglers say — which leaves big, old, diver-tolerant schools decorating the Caribbean's ledges like heirlooms.
इसे कहाँ और कब देखें
"निवासी" का अर्थ है कि उस गंतव्य पर अधिकांश डाइव्स में उनसे मुलाकात होती है; "मौसमी" का अर्थ है कि वे सूचीबद्ध महीनों में विश्वसनीय रूप से मौजूद रहते हैं; इसके अलावा जो भी मिले वह बोनस है, योजना नहीं।
| गंतव्य | विश्वसनीयता | माह | नोट्स |
|---|---|---|---|
| CozumelMexico | Resident — seen on most dives | साल भर | |
| Riviera Maya & the CenotesMexico | Resident — seen on most dives | साल भर | |
| BonaireBonaire | Resident — seen on most dives | साल भर | |
| Grand CaymanCayman Islands | Resident — seen on most dives | साल भर | |
| Florida KeysUnited States | Resident — seen on most dives | साल भर |
एक नज़र में सर्वश्रेष्ठ महीना
इन्हें समझना
आवास: Coastal waters, lagoons, mangrove channels, and reef overhangs; gulps surface air with a modified swim bladder, which lets it thrive in stagnant backwaters
रेंज: Western Atlantic from Virginia to Brazil including the entire Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico, plus tropical West Africa
व्यवहार: Daytime tarpon idle in packs under ledges, in cavern mouths, and beneath docks, all mirror-chrome scales and disdain, letting divers approach within touching distance. At night they switch on — riding dive lights to ambush silversides, detonating through bait clouds in silver flashes. The rolling surface gulp of air is the species' signature.
आहार: Schooling fish and crustaceans, taken in explosive inhaling strikes, mostly at night
आकार: आमतौर पर लगभग 1.5 m; दर्ज अधिकतम गहराई 2.5 m (total length; large females exceed 100 kg).
इसके आसपास कैसे व्यवहार करें
On night dives, hold your beam steady and off other divers so hunting fish work the edge of it rather than the group; no feeding, and no crowding cavern schools against the rock.
संरक्षण
Vulnerable — a slow-growing, late-maturing fish pressured by harvest in parts of Latin America and West Africa and by loss of mangrove nurseries; largely catch-and-release where the sport fishery rules.
इनके लिए जाने-जाने वाले चार्टेड साइट
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