Atlantic Tarpon in Cozumel

An enormous, chrome-plated fish with huge plate-like scales, an upturned lower jaw, and a single trailing filament off the back of the dorsal fin.

Quick ID

Where You Will See It In Cozumel

Atlantic Tarpon works the 9 to 82 foot band. On this island that means the sheltered west-coast reefs, and the shallow east-side entries when the sea is flat — these are the sites where the depth and the habitat line up for it.

Without a boat. It is worth looking for at Tikkila Shallow, Chankanaab Shallow and Chen Rio — all shore entries, so you dive them on your own schedule.

On an ordinary beginner boat dive. It should be within reach at Yellow House, Yucab, Casa Blanca, Chankanaab Bolones and Columbia Shallows. No advanced certification needed.

Deeper, and on the walls. It is also plausible on C-53 Wreck, Cantarel (Eagle Ray Wall), Chun-Chacaab and Colombia Deep.

Conditions change the odds more than the site does — the current, the time of day and how much the group has already stirred up the sand. Ask your guide what they have been seeing that week.

Behaviour

On night dives tarpon deliberately follow torch beams and use the light to ambush smaller fish. It looks like an attack and it is — just not on the diver.

Commonly Confused With

• Great barracuda — A barracuda is slim and toothy; a tarpon is deep-bodied and mirror-scaled with an upturned jaw.
• Bonefish — Bonefish are far smaller and stay over sand flats.

Diving Etiquette And Safety

On a night dive, keep the beam off other divers' faces — a hunting tarpon will follow it. Do not deliberately light up prey fish to trigger a strike.

Part of the Cozumel marine life guide · see Cozumel dive sites · plan your Cozumel dive trip

Photo: Daiju Azuma, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.