Forms: 7 tarpom, 8 -oen, 9 -um, 9 tarpon. [So Du. tarpoen: origin not ascertained.] The Jew-fish, Megalops atlanticus, a giant representative of the herring tribe found in the warmer waters of the western Atlantic: see JEW-FISH and ELOPS. Sometimes extended to the E. Indian species M. cyprinoides (M. thrissoides).
1685. L. Wafer, Voy. (1729), 321. Of these they make nets for fishing, but only for great fish, as Tarpoms, or the like.
1699. Dampier, Voy., II. II. 12. The Tarpom is a large scaly Fish, shaped much like a Salmon, but somewhat flatter … with Scales as big as a Half Crown.
1796. Stedman, Surinam, II. 229. A large fish … called tarpoen … which is white, about 2 feet 6 inches.
1888. Goode, Amer. Fishes, 406. The sailors’ name for this fish, is ‘Tarpum’ or ‘Tarpon.’
1901. Scotsman, 4 Oct., 5/1. The largest tarpon ever captured … weighed 205 lb., and measured 8 ft. and 2 in. in length.
b. attrib. and Comb.
1887. Sporting Life, 22 June, 2/6. Tarpon fishing is not half so exciting as catching man-eating sharks with a hand-line.
1888. Goode, Amer. Fishes, 412. Tugging at a tarpum-line in the Gulf of Mexico.
1895. Blackw. Mag., Aug., 281. He has made a special study of tarpon-tackle during his annual visits to the best tarpon-waters.
