THE TARPON 17 



snout; the chin projects and is obliquely truncated; the 

 dorsal (with twelve rays) is on the posterior half of the 

 body nearly midway between the ventrals and anal; its 

 free margin is very sloping and incurved and its long 

 hind ray reaches nearly to the vertical of the anal ; the 

 anal (with twenty rays) is about twice as long as the dor- 

 sal and falciform ; the caudal fin has a very wide V-shaped 

 emargination. The scales are in about forty-two oblique 

 rows." 

 The late Dr. Charles F. Holder, the noted angler, gave a 

 more simple and colloquial description in his ''Big Game 

 Fishes of the United States" a book which should be in the 

 library of every sea-angler. He sa^^ : 



"In appearance the tarpon is long, slender and thin or 

 compressed — the typical herring type. Its mouth is enor- 

 mous and strikingly oblique and when open, the gill 

 covers expanded, showing the blood red gills, as often 

 seen when leaping, it presents an extraordinary gro- 

 tesque, even cjTiical appearance. The lower jaw is very 

 prominent, suggestive of a determination not to be caught ; 

 the teeth are minute, like velvet or plush (villiform) and 

 the interior of the cavernous mouth is hard and difficult 

 to penetrate. The eye of the tarpon is large and striking 

 and its glare has more than once given a novice a tremor, 

 as the gigantic fish seemed to hang in the air dangerous- 

 ly near the boat. The dorsal fin is high, but short, shaped 

 like a lateen sail, the last ray long and slender reaching 

 backward halfway to the base of the tail. 



"The latter is deeply forked, a powerful organ by 

 which the tarpon leaps. The most remarkable feature is 

 the scales, which are enormous, the largest being three 

 inches and a half in length. One in my possession meas- 

 ures three inches and a half by three inches, almost one- 

 half seemingly covered with molten silver. The upper por- 

 tion of the back has a metallic blue cast, appearing green 

 in the water; the rest of the body is pure silver." 



