Indo-Pacific tarpon
Amazing fact
In low-oxygen water, the Indo-Pacific tarpon can gulp surface air and use its swim bladder to supplement its oxygen supply.
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An illustration based on the real animal.
A little discovery to share.
In low-oxygen water, the Indo-Pacific tarpon can gulp surface air and use its swim bladder to supplement its oxygen supply.
THE REAL WORLD
The real Indo-Pacific tarpon
- Scientific name
- Megalops cyprinoides
- Japanese name
- イセゴイ
- Group
- Ocean animals
- Order
- Elopiformes
- Family
- Megalopidae
- Genus
- Megalops
A fish of Japanese seas, the southern Korean Peninsula and Taiwan, and the warm waters of the Indian Ocean and western Pacific.
How the Indo-Pacific tarpon lives
Adults often eat crustaceans, insects and fish beneath floating aquatic plants. Spawning peaks in the summer wet season in coastal seas and estuaries. The larvae have flat, transparent, ribbon-like bodies. Juveniles feed on plankton.
Museums VictoriaBasic data
- Range
- Yakushima, the Ryukyu Islands, southern Korean Peninsula, Taiwan, and warm waters of the Indian to western Pacific Oceans, and elsewhere
Where the Indo-Pacific tarpon has been recorded
Records: GBIF.org (CC0 and CC BY 4.0 records, retrieved 2026-11-07). Map: Natural EarthSee the records on GBIF
Watch wild animals from a distance. Do not touch or feed them, and take care of the places where they live.
Names around the world
- 日本語
- イセゴイ
- 简体中文
- 大海鲢
- 繁體中文
- 大海鰱
- 한국어
- 인도-태평양 타폰
- Español
- Sábalo del Indo-Pacífico
- Français
- Tarpon indo-pacifique
- Deutsch
- Indopazifischer Tarpun
- Português (Brasil)
- Tarpão-do-Indo-Pacífico
- Italiano
- Tarpone indo-pacifico
- العربية
- خنجولة الهادي الهندي
- Bahasa Indonesia
- Bulan-bulan
- Tiếng Việt
- Cá cháo lớn
- Русский
- Индо-тихоокеанский тарпон
- ไทย
- ปลาตาเหลือก
- বাংলা
- নানচিল কোরাল
Names come from Wikidata and iNaturalist records. Where a language has no recorded name, we use the scientific name.
Sources and how we check
- 鳥羽水族館 — イセゴイChecked: 2026-11-04
- Museums Victoria — Oxeye Herring, Megalops cyprinoides (Broussonet 1782)Checked: 2026-11-07
We check each fact against its source. The illustrations simplify how the real animal looks.
The classification (class, order, family, genus) follows Wikidata records, checked against GBIF. Classifications can change as research goes on.
The basic data are the values given in each source. They vary with how the animal is measured, whether it is male or female, and whether it lives in the wild or in captivity.
This page was translated from the original Japanese with the help of AI.
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