Tarpon Fishing in Florida, 



line is still likely to inquire, "What is a 

 tarpon ?" 



The tarpon is a fish, known to natural- 

 ists as Mega/ops thrissoides, ranging from 

 fifty to two hundred pounds in weight, 

 and from four and one-half to over six feet 

 in length ; not unlike a cross between a 

 huge herring-- to which family it belongs 

 and a huge bluefish in its general pro- 

 portions, with large, protuberant eyes and 

 an ugly mouth that opens on the fish's 

 nose, so to speak, covered on either side 

 with a hard, bony, semicircular flap that 

 gives the effect of a jowl. Behind, and 

 contiguous to the dorsal fin, is a sort of 

 bony bayonet called the "feather," some 

 eight or nine .inches long, that protrudes 

 into the air in the direction of the tail, 

 forming an acute angle with the line of 

 the back. The body is covered with 

 brilliant argentine scales, which give the 

 fish the effect of having been laved in sil- 

 ver, and which have won for it the title 

 of the " Silver King." These scales, 

 which are circular and slightly scalloped 

 on the part of the edge that is overlapped, 

 vary from one inch to three inches and a 

 half across. The silvery epidermis covers 

 only the exposed portion, which is about 

 one-fourth of the circumference. The 



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