30 THETARPON 



Mr. Nichols in a recent letter says: 



u Anadromous fishes as a rule, have large and 

 few eggs as compared to fishes spawning in the 

 sea. Trout and salmon eggs are large and few. 

 The eggs of the sea herring are much smaller than 

 those of the related shad, and about equally 

 numerous, though the shad is a larger fish. The 

 rule is not absolute, for the ale wife (anadromous) 

 has eggs somewhat more numerous and only some- 

 what larger than the sea herring. But the eggs 

 being exceedingly small and exceedingly numerous, 

 the probability is that the tarpon spawns in the 

 sea. If your results, that the tarpon egg is heavy, 

 not buoyant, are correct, and I see no reason why 

 they should not be, it would naturally follow that 

 the fish spawn in shore waters or on banks, not in 

 the deep sea." 



After personal conference with Mr. Nichols it seems 

 to me the following deductions may be safely drawn: 



(1) As the mature eggs of this fish are very small 

 and exceedingly numerous the tarpon is proba- 

 bly a salt water spawner. 



(2) As the eggs sink in sea water the fish probably 

 spawn somewhere off shore in shallow water. 



(3) The indications are that the time of spawning 

 on the West Coast of Florida is from late June 

 to August. 



(4) That the tarpon spawns over a large area for 

 the small fish so widely reported are evidently 

 very young. 



