Tarpon

Photo: Rachel Andres-Beck · CC BY-NC

Atlantic tarpon are ancient fish — their lineage stretches back 100 million years — capable of breathing atmospheric air via a modified swim bladder, allowing them to thrive in low-oxygen shallows. Schools of sub-adult tarpon often patrol reef shallows in tight, spiralling formations that divers find mesmerising. As adults they become powerful open-water predators, but in reef environments they tend to hang at mid-water, catching ambient light on their enormous silver scales. They are rarely eaten in the Caribbean due to bony flesh and ciguatera risk.