Other Game Fish 201 



to the trout and salmon fishermen, even to the hunters of 

 tuna and swordfish, but not to the tarpon-angler. 



The tarpon has been found on the west coast of Africa, 

 and strays as far north as Massachusetts, but his center of 

 abundance is the Gulf of Mexico, where he spends much of 

 his time among the shoals and passes and keys which line 

 the coasts of Florida and southern Texas. He also goes 



Figure 24. TARPON 



From Jordan and Evermann, Fishes of 'North and Middle America by 

 permission of the United States National Museum. 



readily into fresh water 5 he is a well-known visitor to Lake 

 Nicaragua. He eats mullet, pinfish, sea catfish, sardine, 

 shrimp, and crab. His enemies are the shark, which he can 

 outrun, and the porpoise. He is hooked mostly at a depth of 

 about forty feet, whereupon he rushes to the surface and 

 leaps what seems to be about forty feet into the air. Uncon- 

 cerned observers have estimated that his jump is in reality 

 not over twelve feet high and twenty-five feet long. 



Studies begun only ten years ago have thrown much light 

 on hitherto dark passages in the tarpon's life. Up to that time, 

 no one had ever seen this fish spawn, and where such activi- 

 ties took place was purely a matter of conjecture. Now spawn- 

 ing has been observed j in May, June, and July, between the 

 islands of the Florida keys, pairs of fish, or sometimes three 



