Giant tarpon fish displays its very large mouth

Some have eyes bigger than their belly, but this ravenous fish has a mouth that’s bigger.

Slow motion video footage from the shores of Florida shows a large silver tarpon being offered a fish by a man.

As the sea creature lurches out of the water, it stretches its mouth as wide as the man’s fist with its big eyes and gills on show.  

Slow motion video footage from the shores of Florida shows a large silver tarpon being offered a fish by a man

It almost appears as if the tarpon is going bite the arm that feeds it.

But just as it skims the man’s flesh, it dives back down to the water.

Jay Malak, who posted the footage to YouTube, said he snapped the video while visiting Robbie’s in Islamorada, an outlet that leads fishing and snorkelling tours. 

Each day, a school of more than 100 tarpon visit the spot and linger for hours. 

As the sea creature lurches out of the water, it stretches its mouth wide with its big eyes and gills on show. They are known by fisherman as the ‘silver king’

Tarpon are known by fishermen as the ‘silver king’.

It is an extremely strong fish with a huge mouth packed with small villiform – or teeth.

They can reach eight feet in length and weigh 350lbs and are mainly caught for sport.

So far, Malak’s video has been watched more than 9,000 times since it was shared on Monday.