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Thanks for the great report
@darook! I definitely remember seeing tarpons in the T&Cs, especially on night dives, but it has been 4 or 5 years since we were last there. Maybe not as many tarpons as we are used to seeing in Bonaire or the Caymans, but it was not unusual to encounter tarpons and barracudas in the T&Cs.
I have a strong memory of swimming down a coral tunnel while heading out toward the wall on a night dive and seeing a large, dark, shape coming straight at me! I thought that it was a shark but then my light caught the shiny reflection of a very large tarpon.
Deep sea fishing and bone fishing are popular sports in the T&Cs, I hope that the tarpon population hasn't been dwindling due to fishing activities.
Or maybe the strong presence of sharks reduces the numbers of other big predators, due to competition for food? I haven't been to the Bahamas recently but they've always had a reputation for sharks, are tarpons also common there? I don't remember.