About Guy:Guy Harvey 

 I left the warmth of the sun, and plunged beneath the surface into 60 feet of crystal clear water accompanied by my daughter Jessica and son Alexander. We had tied the boat up on the mooring at a renowned dive site on the Grand Cayman’s north wall, called Tarpon Alley.

It took us a while to swim west along the wall to a spot where a massive school of tarpon were idling, close to the bottom between protective coral walls. As we approached, I heard Jessica say “Wow!” in her regulator.

About 200 individuals were gathered in a loose aggregation looking like globs of mercury that shimmered and flashed silver with each turn of a body, or flick of a tail. The three foot long tarpon were not at all perturbed by our inquisitive, bubble-blowing presence, and allowed us to pass right through the school, barely moving aside to let us pass.

I have dived with a lot of big fish in a lot of places around the world, but seldom can you find a school like this, so cooperative and conditioned to the presence of divers.

I began taking lots of shots of these fish; head shots, side shots, close-ups, details of faces and fins, scales and tails that would form the basis of a painting later on. Mixed in with the tarpon were some horse-eye jacks, and the occasional permit came and went. An enormous barracuda hung motionless nearby.

It seems the tarpon hang out in numbers in various locations in the coral caverns and gullies in the day time to avoid their predators, which include large barracuda and a variety of shark species, which here in the Cayman Islands would include the Caribbean reef shark, the great hammerhead, and the tiger shark. The scuffs and scrapes on some tarpon testify to the efforts of these predators.

The tarpon is considered by many anglers to be the king of game fishes and occurs on both sides of the tropical and sub-tropical Atlantic Ocean in saltwater not far from shore, in brackish water bayous, estuaries and coastal lagoons, and in freshwater sometimes hundreds of miles upstream.

Since the construction of the Panama Canal, tarpon have traveled from the Caribbean Sea up the canal’s lock system into Gatun Lake, and out into the Pacific Ocean. They are readily caught several hundred miles along the Pacific coast from the Panama Canal.
The tarpon is a large herring-like fish with a legendary ability to jump in the air when hooked. It is reported to reach 400 pounds, but most of the fish encountered are less than 150 pounds.

Tarpon have a lung-like gas bladder and when ‘rolling’ at the surface they take in air. This enables them to survive in waters with low oxygen content.

They are shallow water inhabitants, and feed actively at night at which time they feed on a variety of fish including mullet, pinfish, sardines, needlefish, crabs and shrimp.

When tarpon are actively foraging, particularly in shallow water, there is no mistaking their intent. The noise and the splashing of a marauding school is nerve-wracking, especially when they work under mangroves, the very limbs shake as the water turns to foam.

Many local restaurants now feed fish scraps to tarpon at night and the speed of the action provides a brief thrill to the delight of patrons. Another good spot to see them without getting wet is by the public fishing beach in George Town where local fisherman clean their catch on a daily basis, and the tarpon compete with the frigate birds for the leftovers.

When the silversides show up in big numbers in the coral caves around the Cayman Islands, the tarpon and other predators are mixed in with them providing tremendous photographic opportunities, showers of bait fish being harassed by bucket-mouth tarpon in a classic predator-prey interaction that has been going on for millions of years.

Among the bony fishes, few saltwater game fishes have a longer ancestry than the Atlantic tarpon, Megalops atlanticus. Survivors from another geological epoch, this fish and its relatives are from a small but exclusive family of Elopids. During the Cretaceous period (70 to 135 million years ago) the Elopids were represented by numerous genera and a much wider variety of species than at present. The two surviving genera, Elops and Megalops first appeared in the Eocene period (40 to 70 million years ago).

Today, the tarpon remains a favourite of sport fishermen because of its size, strength and durability. They are pursued wherever they are abundant, by fly fishermen and with conventional fishing gear. There are many locations in the southern USA, and in Central America where lodges specialise in tarpon fishing.

In a few of these locations tarpon are consumed by artisanal fishermen, but generally their flesh is not considered to be good to eat. This fact alone has certainly prevented the tarpon from being overexploited by local fishing communities, who have had easy access to tarpon. Thankfully, the tarpon has become a senior statesman in the catch and release fishery throughout the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico, and generates significant income for communities that conserve this species for recreational fishing. 

Scientific research on the tarpon has been centred in Florida and has focused on movements and coastal migration, as well as age and growth studies. Concerns for the health of tarpon populations in developing countries stems from the loss of mangrove habitat due to coastal development in Florida, and pollution, particularly seen in the southern Caribbean in Lake Maracaibo.

Here in the Cayman Islands we see a healthy tarpon population, with many juveniles less than 15 inches long seen in canals around Grand Cayman, and larger individuals out on the coral reef caves in the day time, for the delight and enjoyment of anyone who dives.

“Great dive Dad! We must visit Tarpon Alley more often!” Jessica said as we untied from the mooring and moved to another site. Tarpon Alley is at its best on the incoming tide, so check with your dive guide about the tide conditions before you go.

It is our collective responsibility to conserve the marine environment and maintain the  biodiversity of the planet. Dive safely, fish responsibly!

Guy Harvey PhD. www.guyharvey.com