Animalia > Chordata > Elopiformes > Megalopidae > Megalops > Megalops atlanticus

Megalops atlanticus (Tarpon; Silverking; Silverfish; Madzorfloe; Cuffum; Bass; Atlantic tarpon)

Synonyms: Megalops atlantica; Megalops elongatus; Megalops thrissoides; Tarpon atlanticus
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Wikipedia Abstract

The Atlantic tarpon (Megalops atlanticus) inhabits coastal waters, estuaries, lagoons, and rivers. Tarpons feed almost exclusively on schooling fish and occasionally crabs. A tarpon is capable of filling its swim bladder with air, like a primitive lung. This gives the tarpon a predatory advantage when oxygen levels in the water are low. Tarpons have been recorded at up to 2.5 m (8 ft 2 in) in length and weighing up to 161 kg (355 lb). The Atlantic tarpon is also known as the silver king. The tarpon is the official state saltwater fish of Alabama.
View Wikipedia Record: Megalops atlanticus

Endangered Species

Status: Vulnerable
View IUCN Record: Megalops atlanticus

Attributes

Maximum Longevity [3]  55 years
Migration [1]  Amphidromous
Water Biome [1]  Pelagic, Rivers and Streams, Coastal, Brackish Water
Adult Weight [2]  195.22 lbs (88.55 kg)
Diet [1]  Carnivore
Female Maturity [3]  8 years 6 months
Male Maturity [2]  10 years

Ecoregions

Name Countries Ecozone Biome Species Report Climate Land
Use
Cuba - Cayman Islands Cayman Islands, Cuba Neotropic Tropical and Subtropical Coastal Rivers    
South America Caribbean Drainages - Trinidad Colombia, Netherlands, Trinidad and Tobago, Venezuela Neotropic Tropical and Subtropical Coastal Rivers    

Protected Areas

Emblem of

Alabama

Prey / Diet

Anchoa hepsetus (Broad-striped anchovy)[4]
Atherinomorus stipes (Hardhead silversides)[5]
Gobiomorus dormitor (Bigmouth Sleeper)[4]
Hypoatherina harringtonensis (Slender silverside)[5]

Prey / Diet Overlap

Predators

Carcharhinus leucas (Zambezi shark)[4]

Consumers

Parasitized by 
Bivesicula tarponis[6]
Brachyphallus parvus[6]
Diplectanocotyla gracilis[6]
Diplectanocotyla megalopis[4]
Oligogonotylus manteri[4]

External References

NatureServe Explorer

Citations

Attributes / relations provided by
♦ 1Myers, P., R. Espinosa, C. S. Parr, T. Jones, G. S. Hammond, and T. A. Dewey. 2006. The Animal Diversity Web (online). Accessed February 01, 2010 at animaldiversity.org
♦ 2de Magalhaes, J. P., and Costa, J. (2009) A database of vertebrate longevity records and their relation to other life-history traits. Journal of Evolutionary Biology 22(8):1770-1774
♦ 3Frimpong, E.A., and P. L. Angermeier. 2009. FishTraits: a database of ecological and life-history traits of freshwater fishes of the United States. Fisheries 34:487-495.
♦ 4Jorrit H. Poelen, James D. Simons and Chris J. Mungall. (2014). Global Biotic Interactions: An open infrastructure to share and analyze species-interaction datasets. Ecological Informatics.
♦ 5Food Habits of Reef Fishes of the West Indies, John E. Randall, Stud. Trop. Oceanogr. 5, 665–847 (1967)
♦ 6Gibson, D. I., Bray, R. A., & Harris, E. A. (Compilers) (2005). Host-Parasite Database of the Natural History Museum, London
Ecoregions provided by World Wide Fund For Nature (WWF). WildFinder: Online database of species distributions, ver. 01.06 Wildfinder Database
Abstract provided by DBpedia licensed under a Creative Commons License
Species taxanomy provided by GBIF Secretariat (2022). GBIF Backbone Taxonomy. Checklist dataset https://doi.org/10.15468/39omei accessed via GBIF.org on 2023-06-13; License: CC BY 4.0