# Is this a baby tarpon?



## saltaholic

Caught in cast net released unharmed Colorado river.


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## Dawg

Sure looks like it


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## richg99

Probably never happen again, but, if it does, I think you can grab a single scale and that can be scientifically identified. 

I'll bet TXPW would have the ability, and the interest, to see if we have spawning tarpon in our Northern waters. 
richg99


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## hog_down

Dawg said:


> Sure looks like it


X 2


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## dpeterson

*nodoubt in my mind*

thats a juvy megalops atlantica.


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## saltaholic

Awesome! Scratch Texas tarpon off the bucket list


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## Mizpah

I'm going with "yes" and it may have already covered 75-100 nm!


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## richg99

I wonder if a fish that tiny could have made such a long journey. I'd rather hope that we had a spawn near where it was found. THAT would be significant.

richg99


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## Mizpah

To the best of my knowledge, the only place Tarpon larvae have been found is off the continental shelf. Not saying it didn't happen but people have drug nets all over the place and that is the only place larvae have been found. Also lots of data showing adult breeding size Tarpon make big journeys and deep dives offshore.

Also, at an early stage juvey tarpon have big teeth like a ribbonfish, so don't let anybody ever tell you that Tarpon don't have teeth. :wink:


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## Permit Rat

*Big Teeth???*

Never heard of larval tarpon having big teeth. Unfortunately for all the wishful thinkers, Mizpah is correct in that that juvie has already traveled at least 100 miles and they don't spawn anywhere near the coast. Here's a photo of a tarpon larva, courtesy of the BTT.


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## Toadtrout

Good thing you didn't post the weight of that ****. The tarpon master Winters97dbag will come in and chastise you for lying about the size then post 10 pics of him killing fish on a guided trip in Puerto Rico.


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## Meadowlark

Sure looks like a Tarpon.

What an amazing fish.

I really hope the ongoing research on Tarpon will definitively answer questions about their life cycle....well worth donating to that research, IMO.


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## Whitebassfisher

This is really cool, and I am not trying to say otherwise. But didn't something similar happen a year or so back when a 2Cooler was seining or cast netting for bait in a brackish waterway near Galveston?

PS - Found what I was thinking of ...
http://2coolfishing.com/ttmbforum/showthread.php?t=1664402&highlight=baby+tarpon


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## juan valdez

toadtrout said:


> good thing you didn't post the weight of that ****. The tarpon master winters97dbag will come in and chastise you for lying about the size then post 10 pics of him killing fish on a guided trip in puerto rico.


hahaha


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## JWS.HOOKEM

Yep


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## Permit Rat

As an afterthought to this thread, it would behoove us all to take extra special care when we accidentally net a juvenile tarpon or bonefish (yes they too have been caught in TWS seines) because their scales, when they are that size will come off _"extra easy."_

I remember scooping up a 4 inch "fish" that a little 10 inch barracuda had flushed up onto the beach, at Deep Water Cay, in the Bahamas. Of course when I grabbed it, not only did I make an ID, but I got a little sand in my hand as well. That little bit of sand, almost completely scaled the fish, even though great care was taken, once the ID was made. He was placed in a salt water aquarium, where he soon died. Same is true with tarpon about that size.


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## Scott A

The photo is likely a young of the year tarpon. That is a fish that came in this year and may or may not make it through the winter. 

Real quick summary of tarpon biology - despite anecdotal comments of "spawning" tarpon from guides in Florida, biologists pretty much have it down to the fact that tarpon spawn in deep water. We originally thought that the full moon in late spring/early summer was the prime spawn time, the biologists, based on satellite tag data, have become more convinced that the new moons may be a larger spawning cycle for the fish. We also believe that the reason tarpon spawn in deep water has to do with egg maturity. The tags show very deep dives, in excess of 400 feet during these spawning cycles. The pressure may help the eggs enter their final maturity stage. Once the tarpon spawn, the larval tarpon get cast into the currents of the Gulf and the Atlantic. From other research done, it is generally thought that there is some correlation between tropical systems and storm surge pushing larval tarpon into estuaries. Tropical systems or high tides help, but some probably make it inshore anyway. Just because there are tarpon along the upper Texas coast does not necessarily mean they spawned off the upper Texas coast. They very well may have been carried on currents all the way from South Texas or even Mexico. Once in an estuary, the larval tarpon turn into a "fish" in a form we would recognize. Young tarpon are more tolerant to cold weather, but if our winters get too cold and they can't find a warm water discharge etc., they will die. That's why we don't have a bunch of baby tarpon swimming around all over our bays etc. like they do in south Florida. A few likely make it in warmer winters and mature here over time. Some of those fish even find warm water discharges from petrochemical plants and survive the colder winters. Tarpon over 100 lbs generally migrate larger distances. Smaller, beach running tarpon don't travel as far, but do migrate and may even move significant distances from Mexico and south Texas to the upper coast surf each summer. The big cows, 120+lb. tarpon move from Mexico each spring along our coast and travel all the way to the mouth of the Mississippi River. Those migrations usually happen in spurts and we always have some stragglers making their way through during the summer. Some may even hang in areas and not go the entire distance, but the majority trend is to head to Louisiana. In the fall, the currents reverse and so does the migration. Adult tarpon don't like water below 74 degrees and will move to stay out of it. Hope that answers most of the questions. What triggers that south migration in the fall is not well understood. Currents likely have something to do with it, along with shortening days and cooler weather. It is probably a very complex mix of all factors, but there are times when temps don't cool but the tarpon start moving anyway. All part of the puzzle we don't understand and may never fully comprehend.


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## Winters97gt

Toadtrout said:


> Good thing you didn't post the weight of that ****. The tarpon master Winters97dbag will come in and chastise you for lying about the size then post 10 pics of him killing fish on a guided trip in Puerto Rico.


Lol! Your post are so original! Keep the hate filed post! Pretty easy by reading your post history you're an angry individual.


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## c hook

looks like a tarpon and yes tarpon spawn here in texas. we do have resident texas tarpon


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## RedFly

they may not spawn in the bay but the babies used to make it there in large numbers and sometimes still do... much like Redfish I would think...
http://www.texaskayakfisherman.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=111925&highlight=tarpon

a good read if you haven't read it already:
http://www.texasmonthly.com/travel/the-silver-kings/


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## karstopo

What age would a 3 foot tarpon be? From the little I've read that would be a 2-3 year old fish. Also, from what I've read, a tarpon of 2-3 years isn't migrating yet. Is this true?


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## Winters97gt

I think Scott would know. From talking to guys in Costa Rica, to Puerto Rico, catching them in the Bahamas, keys, and as Far East as St. Marteen 3 times in the last year from land, everybody seems to have different opinions. And the fish eat different food sources in different locations. Always nice reading good Tarpon articles.


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## Scott A

karstopo said:


> What age would a 3 foot tarpon be? From the little I've read that would be a 2-3 year old fish. Also, from what I've read, a tarpon of 2-3 years isn't migrating yet. Is this true?


A three foot tarpon is likely between 3-5 years old. The pivotal question is how you define "migrating". Recently an acoustic tagged tarpon that was less than three feet in size traveled from the Keys up to the mid Atlantic Florida coast. I'd call that a migration. I have no doubt that three foot tarpon travel from Mexico up to the middle Texas coast each year. I'd call that a migration. Do they go all the way to Louisiana, well, I've seen some small fish in Louisiana that are with bigger fish offshore... so some do. With tarpon, there are generalities but ever time we think we know what they do, a tag or other data shows us otherwise.


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