The Indo-Pacific tarpon (''Megalops cyprinoides''), also known as the oxeye herring or simply herring due to its superficial resemblance to the true herrings, of which it is not a member, is the smaller of the two species of tarpon and lives in Indo-Pacific waters.Adams, A., Guindon, K., Horodysky, A., MacDonald, T., McBride, R., Shenker, J. & Ward, R. 2012. Megalops cyprinoides. In: IUCN 2013. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2013.2. ww.iucnredlist.org Downloaded on 01 March 2014.

Description

In appearance, it is like the much larger Atlantic tarpon, ''M. atlanticus'' - olive-green on top, and silver on the sides. The large mouth is turned upwards; the lower

jaw The jaw is any opposable articulated structure at the entrance of the mouth, typically used for grasping and manipulating food. The term ''jaws'' is also broadly applied to the whole of the structures constituting the vault of the mouth and serv ...

contains an elongated, bony plate. The last ray of the

dorsal fin A dorsal fin is a fin located on the back of most marine and freshwater vertebrates within various taxa of the animal kingdom. Many species of animals possessing dorsal fins are not particularly closely related to each other, though through conv ...

is much longer than the others, reaching nearly to the tail. It is capable of filling its

swim bladder The swim bladder, gas bladder, fish maw, or air bladder is an internal gas-filled Organ (anatomy), organ that contributes to the ability of many bony fish (but not cartilaginous fish) to control their buoyancy, and thus to stay at their curren ...

with air and absorbing oxygen from it. Those living in fresh water tend to be smaller than the ones living in saltwater, growing just over , while saltwater examples grow over . They live upwards of 44 years and mature within two. They complete their metamorphosis from their larval stage in 10 days.

Diet and behavior

They are opportunistic, feeding on smaller

fish Fish are aquatic, craniate, gill-bearing animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish as well as various extinct related groups. Approximately 95% of li ...

crustacean Crustaceans (Crustacea, ) form a large, diverse arthropod taxon which includes such animals as decapods, seed shrimp, branchiopods, fish lice, krill, remipedes, isopods, barnacles, copepods, amphipods and mantis shrimp. The crustacean group ...

s, and even

plant Plants are predominantly photosynthetic eukaryotes of the kingdom Plantae. Historically, the plant kingdom encompassed all living things that were not animals, and included algae and fungi; however, all current definitions of Plantae exclud ...

s rarely. In salt water, they mainly feed on prawns and

herring Herring are forage fish, mostly belonging to the family of Clupeidae. Herring often move in large schools around fishing banks and near the coast, found particularly in shallow, temperate waters of the North Pacific and North Atlantic Oceans, i ...

, but also many other small fish. In fresh water, no significant difference in their food habits is seen; they eat freshwater prawns and bony bream, mainly. The Indo-Pacific tarpon migrates between the open sea and inland rivers. As with all Elopiformes, it

spawns Spawn is the eggs and sperm released or deposited into water by aquatic animals. As a verb, ''to spawn'' refers to the process of releasing the eggs and sperm, and the act of both sexes is called spawning. Most aquatic animals, except for aquat ...

mainly offshore. Juveniles of the species stay inshore and migrate to coastal areas while maturing to spawn. Typically, they spawn twice a year. At sea, the

larva A larva (; plural larvae ) is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into adults. Animals with indirect development such as insects, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase of their life cycle. The ...

e migrate inland and are leptocephalic (flattened, transparent and

eel Eels are ray-finned fish belonging to the order Anguilliformes (), which consists of eight suborders, 19 families, 111 genera, and about 800 species. Eels undergo considerable development from the early larval stage to the eventual adult stage ...

-like). Unlike the barramundi, they are able to breed in fresh and salt water. They are found at depths to , but are commonly found by the surface in shallow, inshore waters. They inhabit

coral reef A coral reef is an underwater ecosystem characterized by reef-building corals. Reefs are formed of colonies of coral polyps held together by calcium carbonate. Most coral reefs are built from stony corals, whose polyps cluster in groups. Co ...

s, mangroves,

swamp A swamp is a forested wetland.Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 497 p. Swamps are considered to be transition zones because both land and water play a role in ...

river A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of wate ...

lake A lake is an area filled with water, localized in a basin, surrounded by land, and distinct from any river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake. Lakes lie on land and are not part of the ocean, although, like the much large ...

reservoir A reservoir (; from French ''réservoir'' ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam. Such a dam may be either artificial, built to store fresh water or it may be a natural formation. Reservoirs can be created in a number of ways, including contro ...

floodplain A floodplain or flood plain or bottomlands is an area of land adjacent to a river which stretches from the banks of its channel to the base of the enclosing valley walls, and which experiences flooding during periods of high discharge.Goudi ...

s, and

canal Canals or artificial waterways are waterways or engineered channels built for drainage management (e.g. flood control and irrigation) or for conveyancing water transport vehicles (e.g. water taxi). They carry free, calm surface flow un ...

s. In

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea (abbreviated PNG; , ; tpi, Papua Niugini; ho, Papua Niu Gini), officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea ( tpi, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niugini; ho, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niu Gini), is a country i ...

, they are reportedly found under large mats of '' Salvinia molesta''.

Distribution

The Indo-Pacific tarpon is found from the coasts of East Africa and the Arabian Peninsula to the coastal waters of South Asia, Southeast Asia, southern Japan, French Polynesia, and southern Australia. Their usual habitat is in coastal waters, estuaries and many miles upstream (from the estuaries) in freshwater rivers and lakes. They are amphidromus, i.e. they migrate from the river to the sea, and from the sea to the river. The tarpon lives in many tropical areas of

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

in the

tropical The tropics are the regions of Earth surrounding the Equator. They are defined in latitude by the Tropic of Cancer in the Northern Hemisphere at N and the Tropic of Capricorn in the Southern Hemisphere at S. The tropics are also referred to ...

, coastal, and brackish waters of the Indo-Pacific Ocean in both fresh and salt water. They are widely distributed from Australia,

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

, South and Southeast Asia and

North Africa North Africa, or Northern Africa is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region, and it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of Mauritania in ...

. Data are deficient on their population, as their commercial landings and human disturbances are unknown, but they are known to be extremely common throughout their range. Over 300 specimens are found in

museum A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make these ...

Local names

In Bengal, South Asia, they are known as ''koral'' fish (নানচিল কোরাল). In Indonesia, they were called ''ikan bulan'' (moon fish). In Vietnam it is called the ''cá cháo lớn'', "large

congee Congee or conjee ( ) is a type of rice porridge or gruel eaten in Asian countries. It can be eaten plain, where it is typically served with side dishes, or it can be served with ingredients such as meat, fish, seasonings and flavourings, most o ...

fish".

References

External links

*
Underwater video of wild Indo-Pacific Tarpon (Oxeye Herring) on YouTube

{{DEFAULTSORT:tarpon, Indo-Pacific Indo-Pacific tarpon Indo-Pacific tarpon Taxa named by Pierre Marie Auguste Broussonet