The Fishes of NortJi America. 



261 



never seen one that was over five 

 pounds, and the average of those caught 

 on the coasts of Florida will certainly 

 not exceed two pounds. 



The tarpon or tarpum, Tarpon at/aii- 

 tiens, is the typical representative of 

 the big-eyed herrings. It is the largest 

 of our so-called game-fishes taken on 

 rod and line, and, with the exception of 

 the jewfish, or warsaw, and the sawfish, 

 the heaviest fish ever killed on the rod.' 

 The angler will find no difficulty in 

 identifying this fish, as there exists no 

 other of its size in sub-tropical waters 

 with which it might be confused. The 

 long filamentous last ray of the dorsal 

 fin will serve as a signal mark at once, 

 as this formation does not exist in any 

 other fishes except the gizzard-shad or 

 hickory-shad, and in the thread-herring, 

 which, although sometimes found in the 

 same waters as the tarpon, seldom ex- 

 ceed a length of twelve inches. The 

 scale upon the tarpon is another distin- 

 guishing mark ; it is very large, and I 

 have one in my possession which is 

 nearly three inches in breadth. The 

 outer or exposed portion of each scale 

 is covered with a rich, silvery epidermis, 

 and they are highly prized for fancy- 

 work by the curiosity-shop keepers in 

 Florida, who, it is said, pay about fifty 

 cents per dozen for them, and retail 

 them for twenty-five cents a-piece. 

 Little is known of the habits of the 

 tarpon. In the St. John's river, Florida, 

 they appear in June and leave in Octo- 

 ber, and it is thought they follow the 

 coast-line southward and winter in the 

 lower Florida Keys. In many of 

 the streams of southwest Florida they 

 are said, by the natives and others, to 

 be residents, and do not visit the lower 

 or briny portions of the streams. I 

 observed them frequently in March, 

 1895, entering the waters of the passes 



