Chordata · chordates
Atlantic tarpon
Megalops atlanticus
Megalopidae · tarponsIUCN: Vulnerable
A giant silver game fish with an upturned mouth, nicknamed the silver king.
Fun factIt gulps air at the surface using its swim bladder as a lung.
- Waters
- Northwest Atlantic, Tropical Atlantic & Caribbean
- Depth zone
- Coastal shallows & estuaries
- Diet
- Fish & crabs
- Size
- Up to 2.5 m
Classification
Chordata › Actinopterygii › Elopiformes › Megalopidae
- Kingdom Animalia animals
- Many-celled organisms that eat other living things for energy (heterotrophs)
- Cells have no cell walls
- Most can move at some stage of life
- Clade Bilateria bilateral animals
- Body has a left and right side that mirror each other (bilateral symmetry)
- Head end with concentrated nerves; three tissue layers
- Includes about 99% of all living animal species
- Clade Deuterostomia deuterostomes
- In the embryo, the first opening becomes the anus and the mouth forms second
- Includes echinoderms and chordates
- Phylum Chordata chordates
- At some stage of life: a stiffening rod along the back (notochord)
- A hollow nerve cord along the back (dorsal)
- Slits in the throat (pharyngeal slits) and a tail past the anus
- Subphylum Vertebrata vertebrates
- A skull (cranium) protecting a brain
- Backbone or similar support around the nerve cord
- Includes fishes, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals
- Infraphylum Gnathostomata jawed vertebrates
- Jawed vertebrates: jaws formed from gill arches
- Paired fins or limbs
- Includes all fishes except hagfish and lampreys, plus all tetrapods
- Superclass Osteichthyes bony vertebrates
- Bony vertebrates: skeleton made largely of bone
- Most have a lung or swim bladder
- Includes ray-finned and lobe-finned fishes and all tetrapods
- Class Actinopterygii ray-finned fishes
- Ray-finned fishes: fins are webs of skin held up by thin bony rays
- Usually a gas-filled swim bladder for buoyancy
- About half of all vertebrate species
- Infraclass Teleostei teleost fishes
- Teleosts: symmetrical tail fin
- Jaws that can push forward to grab prey (protrusible)
- About 96% of all living fishes
- Cohort Elopomorpha eels, tarpons & bonefishes
- Larvae are clear, flat, and ribbon-like (leptocephalus)
- Includes eels, tarpons, and bonefishes
- Order Elopiformes tarpons & ladyfishes
- Tarpons and ladyfishes: large, silvery scales
- Bony plate between the lower jaws (gular plate)
- Family Megalopidae tarpons
- Tarpons: can gulp air at the surface
- Genus Megalops
- Species in the same genus are very close relatives and often look alike.
- Species Megalops atlanticus Atlantic tarpon
Closest relatives in the guide
- Acadian redfish Sebastes fasciatus same class
- Alaska pollock Gadus chalcogrammus same class
- Albacore Thunnus alalunga same class
- Alewife Alosa pseudoharengus same class
- American conger Conger oceanicus same class
- American eel Anguilla rostrata same class
- American goosefish Lophius americanus same class
- American plaice Hippoglossoides platessoides same class