About Opentopia
Opentopia Directory Encyclopedia Tools

Barracuda

Encyclopedia : B : BA : BAR : Barracuda

For other uses, see Barracuda (disambiguation)}}}.

Barracudas are ray-finned fishes notable for their large size (up to 1.8 m or 6 ft) and fearsome appearance. The body is long, fairly compressed, and covered with small, smooth scales. They are found in tropical and subtropical oceans worldwide. Their genus Sphyraenus is the only genus in the family Sphyraenidae. The larger species of barracuda grow to a length of 8 feet or more and have a weight of approximately 100 lb.

Contents

Appearance and Physical Description

Barracudas are elongated fishes with powerful jaws. The lower jaw of the large mouth juts out beyond the upper. Barracudas possess strong, fang-like teeth. These are unequal in size and set in sockets in the jaws on the roof of the mouth. The head is quite large and is pointed and pike-like in appearance. The gill-covers do not have spines and are covered with small scales. The two dorsal fins are widely separated, with the first having five spines and the second having one spine and nine soft rays. The soft dorsal equals the anal fin in size and is situated more or less above it. The lateral line is prominent and extends straight from head to tail. The spinous dorsal fin is placed above the pelvics. The hind end of the caudal fin is forked or concave. It is set at the end of a stout peduncle. The pectoral fins are placed low down on the sides. The barracuda air bladder is large.

In general, the barracuda's coloration is dark green or grey above chalky-white below. This varies somewhat. Sometimes there is a row of darker cross-bars or black spots on each side. The fins may be yellowish or dusky.

Order and suborder

Barracudas belong to the great order of Perch-like fishes (Percomorphi). Along with the smaller grey mullets and sand smelts or atherines, barracudas form the suborder known as mugiloids. Members of this group are distinguished from the Percoids by the backward position of the pelvic fins, which are located well behind the pectorals.

Behavior

Scuba diver inside a school of sawtooth barracudas in Koh Tao, Thailand.
Enlarge
Scuba diver inside a school of sawtooth barracudas in Koh Tao, Thailand.

Barracudas occur both singly and in schools around reefs, but also appear in open seas. They are voracious predators and hunt using a classic example of lie-in-wait or ambush. They rely on surprise and short bursts of speed to overrun their prey, sacrificing maneuverability.

The larger barracuda are more or less solitary in their habits. Young and half-grown fish frequently congregate in shoals. Their food is composed almost totally of fishes of all kinds. Large barracudas, when gorged, exhibit the curious and unpleasant tendency of hoarding a shoal of fishes in shallow water. Here they guard over them until they are ready for another meal.

Barracudas and Humans

Like sharks, barracudas have long suffered from an unjust bad reputation inflicted on them by the media. In reality unprovoked attacks on humans are extremely rare and millions of scuba divers, snorkelers and swimmers spend time with them in the water without any incidents. Barracudas sometimes do follow snorkelers and scuba divers across the reef, which can make one feel uncomfortable, but still they are completely harmless unless provoked.

Being formidable hunters they should be respected, as barracudas are perfectly capable of defending themselves against humans that harass them. Handfeeding or trying to touch them is strongly discouraged. Spearfishing around barracudas can also be quite dangerous, as they are strongly attracted by the wounded fish.

There have been isolated cases where barracudas did bite a human thinking that part of it was a fish, but these incidents are extremely rare and are generally caused by bad visibility. Barracudas will always stop after the first bite as humans are not their normal food source.

As food

They are caught as food and game fish. They are most often eaten as filet or steak and contain a strong taste like tuna or salmon. Larger species, like the great barracuda, can sometimes be toxic due to ciguatera.

Fishing

Barracudas are caught using fishing nets of various types along with trolling with lines baited with fish or other delicacies. The acute inquisitiveness of barracudas, together with their possessing hearty appetites, means that they will readily bite at artificial lures made up of feathers, pieces of colored rag, etc. Trolling for barracuda is a favorite sport on the coast of Florida. Here they are also caught on rod and line from stationary boats. The record fish was captured in Miami in 1924. It weighed 64.5 lb.

Species

A school of sawtooth barracudas, Sphyraena putnamae in Bora Bora.
Enlarge
A school of sawtooth barracudas, Sphyraena putnamae in Bora Bora.

Northern sennet, Sphyraena borealis
Enlarge
Northern sennet, Sphyraena borealis

There are 26 species:

Only some species of barracuda grow to a large size. The species which do are the European Barracuda, Barracouta or Spet (S. sphyraena), found in the Mediterranean and eastern Atlantic; the Great Barracuda, Picuda or Becuna (S. picuda), ranging on the Atlantic coast of tropical America from Florida to Brazil and reaching the Bermudas; the California Barracuda (S. argentea), extending from Puget Sound southwards to Cape San Lucas; the Indian Barracuda (S. jello) and the Black-finned or Commerson's Barracuda (S. commersoni), both from the seas of India and the Malay Peninsula and Archipelago.

References

External links

 

From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.

Search Titles
0123456789
ABCDEFGHIJ
KLMNOPQRST
UVWXYZ?

E-mail this article to:

Personal Message: