They have large eyes with adipose eyelids and broad mouths with prominent lower jaws that jut out farther than the rest of the face.

By day 70, the juvenile growth phase (stage three) begins, and the fish grows rapidly until sexual maturity.

One of the unique features of Megalops is the swim bladder, which, in addition to controlling the buoyancy, can be used as an accessory respiratory organ.

It arises dorsally from the posterior pharynx, and the respiratory surface is coated with blood capillaries with a thin epithelium over the top.

This trait is essential due to the mangrove and marsh ecosystems the fish use as nursery habitats, which often have stagnant waters low in oxygen.

The young fish will also ride the water into remote semi-landlocked ponds during storms and king tides, where they will stay from one to three years.

Even if they live in more oxygenated marine coastal habitats, they have high rates of aerobic metabolism and also occasionally occur in hypoxic waters.

[6][16] Tarpon are considered some of the greatest saltwater game fishes, prized not only because of their great size but also because of their fight and spectacular leaping ability.

Tarpon inhabiting the western Atlantic are principally found to populate warmer coastal waters, primarily in the Caribbean, Gulf of Mexico, Florida, and the West Indies.

Nonetheless, tarpon are regularly caught by anglers at Cape Hatteras and as far north as Nova Scotia, Bermuda, and south to Argentina.

Scientific studies[20] indicate that schools of tarpon have routinely migrated through the Panama Canal from the Atlantic to the Pacific and back for over 70 years.

Since tarpon tolerate wide ranges of salinity throughout their lives and eat almost anything dead or alive, their migrations seemingly are only limited by water temperatures.