Huge tail-dancing beasts baffle American scientists and shock residents: 'They're like dinosaurs'

An enormous prehistoric fish is baffling American scientists and anglers alike as increasing numbers are found in the Northeast of the country.

Tarpons are nicknamed 'The Silver King' due to their massive size and shimmering, reflective scales. 

Their big eyes make them appear rather startling, and an adult can reach up to eight feet long, weigh as much as 300 pounds and live for up to 50 years. 

But the sea creature is perhaps best known for the 'dance' it does when hooked, leaping and thrashing around in the air.  

Tarpons are typically found in the warmer coastal waters, such as Florida, yet reports of the massive fish are now flooding in from fishermen further north in New England.

'What are they doing up here? It's really hard to say. It may be a few wayward specimens, or roving schools of them. They are such unusual looking fish - they're like dinosaurs,' Owen Nichols, director of marine fisheries research at the Center for Coastal Studies, told the Wall Street Journal.

Thomas Czernik, a graduate student at Brown University, recalled one catch while fishing off Aquidneck Island in Rhode Island for striped bass late in the night. 

After two hours of waiting, he finally scored big with a 'thunderous hit' that ran the line out. But he was stunned by what he pulled in. 

'It was beyond anything I’ve caught before,' he told the Journal. 'I knew it was something big - monumental. I feel lucky. It’s a memory I’ll have forever. I’m thankful.'

As Czernik dragged the fish measuring in at just under six feet across the beach, he noticed it was dancing on its tail in the darkness. 

'That’s a behavior unique to tarpon. But it still didn’t register - who goes into the Rhode Island surf thinking they’re going to catch a tarpon?'

Rich Mann, a sales manager from Halifax, Massachusetts also managed to hook a 72 inch slender tarpon while bait fishing for a bluefish off East Beach on Chappaquiddick during the annual Martha’s Vineyard Striped Bass & Bluefish Derby in September. 

He described how the fish caught hold of the bait at around 8pm and 'shot straight away from the beach without stopping'.  

'They normally run side to side and take off on an angle. It was weird,' he recalled.

'All I could see was a silvery reflection, but thought that was just the splash of the fish. It was this six-foot tall slender fish exploding out of the water.

'My friend started yelling: Tarpon! Tarpon! Tarpon! Then I realized I had this very large rare fish on the end of my hook. I was in shock—probably a one in a million event,' he told the Journal.

Captain Tom Weaver also secured a six-foot-long tarpon weighing between 80 to 100 pounds while scouting for red drum near the Hoopers Island Lighthouse in Dorchester County, Maryland. 

'When you run out of Annapolis, you don’t expect an hour and a half later to be running across a tarpon. My brain took a few minutes to process,' he told the Maryland Department of Natural Resources. 

In a short video shared by Weaver, a school of seven or eight of tarpons could be seen swimming on the surface of the water. 

Erik Zlokovitz, Maryland Department of Natural Resources’ recreational fisheries outreach coordinator, said: 'We have seen tarpon in Maryland’s section of the bay historically, but the number of fish spotted recently is unusual. 

'This year is the first time we’ve gotten multiple reports of schools of tarpon, and not just a stray fish.'

While this supremely athletic fish has been spotted around southern Chesapeake Bay in the summer and in the coastal waters off the Eastern Shore of Virginia, it has rarely been seen swimming around Maryland. 

Marine biologists and scientists theorize that climate change and the ensuing warming of normally frigid waters are causing the northern migration of tarpon as well as other tropical fish species. 

According to the agency, DNR monitoring stations have shown a spike of one to two degrees in water temperatures since 1999.

The 2024 summer was also particularly hot,  with monitoring stations recording above average temperatures near Hoopers Island.  

A number of warm-water fish species including the Florida pompano, cobia, cutlassfish and pompano dolphinfish have also become more common sights in the Chesapeake Bay and along the Atlantic coast. 

Tarpon are primarily found in shallow coastal waters and estuaries, but can also found in open marine waters, around coral reefs and in some freshwater lakes and rivers. 

They grow slowly, usually reaching maturity at the of six or seven years old, and have a special ability to gulp air at the surface when they are in a habitat that does not provide enough oxygen. 

According to the Clearwater Inshore Fishing, this when they tend dance to dance on their tail when pulled to the surface on a fishing line - they are trying to breathe in oxygen. 

Tarpon typically start their season in the Florida Keys during late winter, hit the shallow beaches of Boca Grande in late spring and make their way to Tampa Bay before heading out into the Gulf to spawn in September.

Boca Grande is known as the 'Tarpon Capital of the World', with the best time to catch the fish between April and July, according to the Florida Inshore Xtreme. 

The Silver King can only be fished recreationally in Florida, South America and Bahamas. They can be possessed for trophy purposes at the cost of $50 per tag.

The majority of recreational anglers practice catch and release since the fish is not considered to be of any food value due to its potent odor and the numerous small, hard-to-clean bones.