Generations of saltwater anglers have pondered where the Atlantic tarpon (Megalops atlanticus) come from, and where they go. For more than a century there has been considerable speculation and countless theories about what motivates tarpon to migrate, to where, and when. Many have rightly questioned, too, if there were perhaps an international component to the travels of tarpon. That is, are the fish that we call “ours” in late spring through fall in U.S. waters, in fact “theirs” (whomever that may be) for the remainder of the year?
Basically, do Caribbean tarpon spend time in the Florida Keys? How about those Silver Kings seen in Virginia and the Carolinas, or Texas and Louisiana? What about tarpon in Latin America in such places as Brazil, Venezuela, Cuba, Mexico, Belize and Costa
Rica? Do these fish interact and co-migrate with their neighbors to the north?
Where do “Gulf of Mexico” tarpon migrate throughout the year? Do they mix with Atlantic Ocean fish? Why have tarpon populations apparently declined along the once fish-filled Texas Coast? What is their relationship to Mexico and points further south? What happened to the once abundant monsters of Homosassa Springs, Florida, that frequently exceeded 200 pounds? What about tarpon in Mississippi and Alabama, too once abundant? How do those relatively sparse and seasonal tarpon populations relate to Louisiana’s monster-sized fish; and, the seasonal abundance of tarpon in the prime fishing spots of northwest Florida’s nearby Panhandle?
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By Jerald S. Ault and Jiangang Luo
University of Miami