​TARPON are more likely to be found in the warm waters of the Caribbean, but six of these impressive fish are settling into a new tank at Plymouth’s National Marine Aquarium.

The fish were part of a consignment of fish imported by the aquarium from Barbados in September.

After three months in quarantine they have now been released into their 2.5 million litre tank – which they share with other Caribbean species such as sand tiger sharks, nurse shark, stingrays and barracuda, as well as hundreds of small reef fish.

John Crouch, from the NMA, said they are settling in well.

“They are warm water fish so you wouldn’t get them off the coast of the South West,” he said. “They seem happy as Larry and are enjoying their extensive and very expensive accommodation!

“They are settling in with the sharks and can hold their own – they’re a fair old size and are more than capable of looking after themselves.”

This is the only shoal of tarpon to exist in a UK aquarium, according to Mr Crouch.

“It’s very unusual to get hold of these fish and get them to shoal like that,” he said. “It shows that they are happy in their environment.

“When they came over from Barbados we painstakingly looked after them, to make sure they were in fine fettle and happy in their new surroundings.”

The aquarium chartered a Boeing 767 to import the 42-tonne shipment of fish, which is believed to be the biggest ever consignment of marine exhibits bought into the UK, from an aquarium in Barbados.

The £100,000 trip saw the fish flown to Exeter Airport, where the cargo was loaded on to lorries and driven to Plymouth under police escort.