THE TARPON 9 



other fish do, but allowed me to stroke him 

 gently and, tarpon-like, showed no -fear. From 

 time to time he would rise to the surface as the 

 large fish do in the rivers, then go to the bottom 

 of the tub again, and in a moment the bubbles 

 would slowly issue from his mouth. 



The long lower jaw of the tarpon shows that 

 he is a bottom feeder, and lives on crabs; yet 

 he also feeds on school fish such as mullet, 

 needle fish, and the like. 



Although the tarpon's mouth is as hard as 

 stone, there is a very sensitive cuticle that 

 covers the roof of the mouth. When you see 

 a tarpon in 1 a river jump you may be sure that 

 a crab has nipped this cuticle. When they 

 jump in the sea it may be done to get rid of 

 ramoras. 



I believe that the tarpon not only come to 

 the rivers of Florida in the spring and early 

 summer for the purpose of spawning, but that 

 like the salmon they return to the same river 

 as a rule, and that many fish remain in deep 

 holes in the rivers throughout the winter. 



This belief is based on the fact that in the 

 late 80's and early 90's there were many tarpon 

 to be found in the Peace River. During the 

 freeze in 1894 many hundreds of tarpon were 



