Key West Tarpon

With Key West snorkeling, you'll also have a chance to see some tarpons, known as one of the premier game fish in Florida. People like to fish for tarpon because they are incredibly strong and have a lot of stamina andndash; which makes them very hard to catch.

These fish can grow to be very large, in between three and eight feet in length, and can weigh almost 300 pounds at their largest. They are usually greenish or bluish in color and have very shiny, silver scales covering most of their bodies. However, their heads are not covered by these shiny scales. Tarpons also have large eyes and broad mouths with a prominent lower jaw that sticks out a bit farther from the rest of the face. Adult tarpons are carnivorous and feed on fish, crab, squid, shrimp, and anything else that they can find. They swallow their food whole when they eat it. Tarpons general hunt and search for food at night.

Besides sport fishers who love chasing tarpons, they also commonly fall prey to birds when they come to the surface of the water for air. The rolling manner in which they move in order to take in air and their shiny silver scales give them away, allowing the birds to see them and sweep down to the water and pick them up.

There are actually two species of tarpons, the Atlantic tarpon and the Indo-Pacific tarpon. Obviously, you will be able to see the Atlantic tarpon when diving a Key West snorkel. Both species of tarpons are able to survive in both salt and freshwater conditions.