Oxeye Herring

Facts about the Oxeye Herring it is of the genus of tarpon, which means a big-size fish. This Oxeye Herring fish species comes from the genus Megalops of the Megalopidae family. The scientific name of the fish is Megalops cyprinoides and it is also commonly referred to as Indo-Pacific tarpon or Just Herring. These Oxeye Herring Fish species live in several tropical regions of Australia in the tropical, brackish, and coastal waters in both saltwater and freshwater of the Indo-Pacific oceans. The Oxeye Herring Fish are extensively distributed from Japan, Australia, and North Africa. Their population has scarce information on their inhabitants as their human disturbances and commercial landings are unknown, but they are identified to be very common all through their range.

Features

The Oxeye Herring lives in both fresh water and salt water and fresh water tarpons are inclined to have a smaller size body than the saltwater ones. A fresh water tarpon is a smaller fish than the sea water fish that can attain a maximum body length of 20 inches (50 cm) when fully grown, whereas the saltwater tarpon can attain a maximum body length of 3.3 feet (1 meter). Both tarpons resemble the Atlantic tarpon in look with olive-green on their top, and silver on their body sides. This tarpon has an upward turned mouth and its lower jaw holds an extended, bony plate. The very last ray of the dorsal fin of this tarpon is longer than the other tarpons, reaching almost to its tail. It is able to fill its swim bladder with air and to absorb oxygen from it, so it can put up with the levels of low oxygen in the water.

The Oxeye Herring tarpon travels between the open marine and inland rivers. Similar to all tarpons, it spawns, mostly offshore. Juvenile Oxeye Herring tarpons continue inshore and travel to coastal regions at the time of maturing to spawn. Usually, these tarpons spawn two times in a year. In the ocean, the larvae of these tarpons travel to inland and are flattened, translucent, and eel-like. Unlike the Barramundi, a class of catadromous fish in the Latidae family, the Oxeye Herring tarpons are capable of breeding in both fresh water and salt water.

The Oxeye Herring tarpons are usually found in a depth of 160 feet (50 meters), but they are generally found on the shallow inshore water surface. The Oxeye Herring prefer to live in mangroves, coral reefs, swamps, lakes, rivers, reservoirs, canals, and floodplains. The Oxeye Herring are also largely seen under big mats of Salvinia molesta in Papua New Guinea.

Recently, the Oxeye Herring tarpon has gained attention by grasping fish keepers, although they have been intermittently imported in the past. Approximately all of these imported tarpons are exercised in aquaculture.

The Oxeye Herring tarpon is an opportunistic eater, and it mostly feeds on smaller crustaceans, fish, and occasionally, even plants. In saltwater, it mostly feeds on herring and prawns, but it also feeds on several other small fish species. In fresh water, there is no major difference in its food habits, and it will mostly feed on bony bream and freshwater prawns.

The average lifespan of the Oxeye Herring tarpon is 19 years.