Fish have evolved some incredible abilities to evade predators. Some match the colors of their surroundings, others possess dangerous toxins. Still others such as tarpon have learned to swim really fast and jump.
A group of anglers on a fishing charter off Anna Maria Island in Florida got the show of a lifetime recently after watching a hammerhead shark pursue a tarpon they had recently hooked. The tarpon got free of the hook, but it wasn’t in the clear by a long shot as the shark charged after it.
Then as if out of a show at Sea World, the tarpon shoots out of the water like a torpedo, evading the chomping jaws of the harmmerhead. It does this a couple times after swimming in circles until one giant leap lands it straight into the fishing boat.
Now it’s gone from almost being shark dinner to almost being human dinner. But the anglers are just as shocked as the tarpon as it flops its way out of the boat and back into the water where the hammerhead eventually gets his meal.
© Mailland David | Dreamstime.com – Baby tarpon (Megalops atlanticus) jumping and splashing
