104 Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington. 

 Tarpon atlanticus (Cuvier & Valenciennes). 



TARPON; "SILVER FISH." 



Tarpon, while recorded from Beanfort, are sparingly taken. So far as 

 I know, since 1902 no tarpons have been seen or any captures made until 

 during the past year. In September, 1911, a specimen 52 inches long and 

 weighing 60 pounds was taken in a seine in the channel between Fort 

 Macon and the outer edge of Bird Shoal. A photograph of this fish, made 

 by Mr. A. D. Dart of Beaufort, is now in my possession. On the day fol- 

 lowing the capture of the above, another about the same size was hooked 

 outside the Inlet but broke away. 



On May 24, at Lawton's Rock at the head of Newport estuary, we took 

 a young specimen in a seine. The fish seemed to be known to my head 

 fisherman, for, long before it became visible, he remarked that the big 

 fish, striking the bunt of the seine so hard and threatening to tear its way 

 out, was a silver fish. This specimen was 38j^ inches long over all, 31^ 

 to the base of the caudal, and its depth was 1% inches. The head was 

 1% inches long, the diameter of the eye 1% inches, and the long dorsal 

 ray was 8 inches in length. It is interesting to note that the dorsal fin 

 hail 11 rays instead the 12 normally present. Its weight was 14^ pounds. 

 When dissected it was found to have a very long air bladder, on the dorsal 

 and ventral surfaces of the inner lining of which were found elongated 

 bands of deep red vascular tissue, very lung-like in appearance, cellular 

 and spongy, recalling vividly the figures of the air bladder of Ceratodus. 



In size this 38^-inch fish was a mere baby. In July, 1906, at Hatteras, 

 I saw a 5-foot specimen taken in a pound-net in Pamlico Sound. The 

 largest recorded from the coast of North Carolina was taken near Wilming- 

 ton. It weighed 176 pounds, but this is not the limit by any means. 

 According to C. F. Holder (1903), the undisputed authority on the big 

 game fishes of the United States — and the tarpon is par excellence the 

 greatest game fish on the Atlantic and Gulf coasts, taking the place there 

 of the tuna in California — the largest tarpon ever taken with rod and reel 

 in the waters of the United States weighed 213 pounds and measured 7 

 feet 2 inches in length and 46 inches in girth. It was captured at Bahia 

 Honda, Florida Keys, in 1901. In the same year a tarpon was taken at 

 Aransas Pass, Texas, 7 feet 10 inches long and having a girth of 46 

 inches. Unfortunately this fish was not weighed but, according to the 

 formula that the square of the girth in inches multiplied by the length in 

 inches divided by 800 equals the weight in pounds, it was estimated 

 by Holder at 233 pounds. These however are not maximum fish, for a 

 specimen of 383 pounds has been grained according to Evermann, and 

 Holder is convinced that not even this is the limit. 



Smith (1907) tells us that the tarpon is not uncommon at Cape Look- 

 out in May, but that it is rarely caught since it breaks through the nets. 

 Coles took an 83-pound specimen there in the summer of 1912. He 

 reports that tarpon are by no means rare there, that he has seen them in 

 great numbers, and that he has gotten a net around them a number of 

 times. However the above specimen is the only one he has ever caught 

 since they are so strong that they either go through the net or leap over 

 the cork line. 



