The Tarpon 233 



The tarpon attains a length of seven or eight 

 feet and a weight of four hundred pounds. 

 Evermann states that a specimen weighing three 

 hundred and eighty-three pounds has been 

 harpooned, and from the descriptions of men 

 who lived on the upper reef I am convinced 

 that this is not the limit. In its habits the 

 tarpon is a wandering, predaceous fish, preying 

 upon sardines, mullet, and small fry of a similar 

 nature. It devastates the schools, pursuing its 

 course up the rivers into bays and over the flats, 

 everywhere a rapacious fish, and by the fisher- 

 men where it is liable to be seined, considered 

 dangerous, owing to its habit of leaping to 

 escape. The tarpon is not valued in America 

 as a food fish, and many fishes hooked for the 

 sport are released, the large specimens being 

 mounted as trophies. The tarpon has a value 

 outside of its flesh. The beautiful scales bring 

 from ten to twenty-five cents apiece in the 

 market. Dealers use them for various purposes ; 

 and some anglers, as a piscatorial carte de visite, 

 write their name, the date, and the weight of the 

 fish on the inside, and send the alluring object to 

 some distant angling friend, who is thus infected 

 with the fishing-fever and made wholly miserable. 



