Barracuda

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For other uses, see Barracuda (disambiguation).

{{Taxobox | color = pink | name = Barracudas | image = Barracuda with prey.jpg | image_width = 250px | image_caption = Great barracuda, Sphyraena barracuda, with prey | regnum = Animalia | phylum = Chordata | classis = Actinopterygii | ordo = Perciformes | familia = Sphyraenidae | genus = Sphyraena | genus_authority = Klein, 1778 | subdivision_ranks = Species | subdivision = See text. }}

Appearance and Physical Description

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 lbs.

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.

Coloration

In general barracudas 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.

Edibility of Barracuda

They are caught as food and game fish (however, barracuda flesh can occasionally contain ciguatera toxin). The eating of Barracuda flesh in certain seasons is considered poisonous. Those consuming Barracuda have been known to experience violent gastric upset and paralysis. Sometimes this reaction has been followed, in extreme cases, by coma and death. Both J.R. Norman and F.C. Fraser speculate that such symptoms are indistinguishable from those caused by ptomaines. They contend it is likely that most all instances of Barracuda poisoning in the tropics is in response to consuming fish that has begun to go bad.

Fishing for Barracuda

Barracudas are caught using nets of various types along with trolling with lines baited with fish or other delicacies. The acute inquisitiveness of Barracudas, together with 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.

1 Behavior
2 Species
3 References
4 External links

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Behavior

Image:Diver in school of barracudas.jpg 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 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 hording a shoal of fishes in shallow water. Here they guard over them until they are ready for another meal.

There have been a few isolated cases where barracudas attacked a human thinking that part of it was a fish, but these incidents are extremely rare, especially considering the number of times that barracudas and humans encounter each other.

While barracudas sometimes follow snorkelers and scuba divers across the reef, which can make one feel uncomfortable, there exist no substantiated reports of unprovoked attacks. Known incidents generally involve spearfishing or hand feeding.

Barracuda Attacks on Humans Chronicled in History

In some regions of the world, especially in Florida, Barracudas are more feared by natives than sharks. There is little doubt that there are occasions when they may be dangerous to man. The Barracuda is both a highly inquisitive and fearless fish. To some extent they are ferocious. They do not hesitate to attack bathers. Unlike sharks they cannot be frightened away by splashing the water. Also they swim through the water with great ease, utilizing their lithe bodies. It is next to impossible to detect their approach. Barracuda attacks on humans were summarized by two American scientists in a paper they submitted to the American Medical Association. The writers describe the nature of the wounds made by Barracuda jaws and the fishes' tendency to hunt by sight rather than by smell. Moreover Barracuda are attracted by flashing objects in the water, yet may hesitate once an attack has begun, and then return. None have been known to strike more than once. If an object does not suit its taste the Barracuda lets go and swims on.

The Sieur de Rochefort commented in his Natural History of the Antilles published in 1665. Among the monsters greedy and desirous of human flesh, which are found on the coasts of the islands, the Becune is one of the most formidable. It is a fish which has the figure of the pike, and which grows to 6 or 8 feet in length and has a girth in proportion. When it has perceived its prey, it launches itself in fury, like a bloodthirsty dog, at the men whom it has perceived in the water. Furthermore it is able to carry away a part of that which it has been able to catch, and its teeth have so much venom that its smallest bite becomes mortal if one does not have resource at that very instant to some powerful remedy in order to abate and turn aside the force of the poison.

Sir Hans Sloane writing in 1707 made the following observation regarding the Barracuda's ferocity. It is very voracious, and feeds on Blacks, Dogs, and Horses, rather than on White Men, when it can come at them in the water. Pere Labat reiterated the Barracudas dislike of the flesh of white man in 1742. He surmizes, yet one which is however of public notoreity, is that these same fish more often attack and Englishman than a Frenchman, when they find them both together in the water. Labat reasoned that the Barracuda preferred the hearty meat-eating habits of the Englishman as opposed to the daintier feeding of the Frenchman. The Englishman it was supposed produced a stronger exhalation in the water to attract the Barracuda's nostrils. J.R. Norman and F.C. Fraser discount this prejudice in their Field Book of Giant Fishes as having to do more of national prejudice than of scientific accuracy!

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Species

Image:School of barracuda.JPG Image:Sphyraena borealis.jpg There are 26 species:

Sharpfin barracuda, Sphyraena acutipinnis Day, 1876.
Guinean barracuda, Sphyraena afra Peters, 1844.
Pacific barracuda, Sphyraena argentea Girard, 1854.
Great barracuda, Sphyraena barracuda (Walbaum, 1792).
Northern sennet, Sphyraena borealis DeKay, 1842.
Yellowstripe barracuda, Sphyraena chrysotaenia Klunzinger, 1884.
Mexican barracuda, Sphyraena ensis Jordan & Gilbert, 1882.
Yellowtail barracuda, Sphyraena flavicauda Rüppell, 1838.
Bigeye barracuda, Sphyraena forsteri Cuvier, 1829.
Guachanche barracuda, Sphyraena guachancho Cuvier, 1829.
Heller's barracuda, Sphyraena helleri Jenkins, 1901.
Sphyraena iburiensis Doiuchi & Nakabo, 2005.
Pelican barracuda, Sphyraena idiastes Heller & Snodgrass, 1903.
Japanese barracuda, Sphyraena japonica Cuvier, 1829.
Pickhandle barracuda, Sphyraena jello Cuvier, 1829.
Lucas barracuda, Sphyraena lucasana Gill, 1863.
Australian barracuda, Sphyraena novaehollandiae Günther, 1860.
Obtuse barracuda, Sphyraena obtusata Cuvier, 1829.
Southern sennet, Sphyraena picudilla Poey, 1860.
Red barracuda, Sphyraena pinguis Günther, 1874.
Sawtooth barracuda, Sphyraena putnamae Jordan & Seale, 1905.
Blackfin barracuda, Sphyraena qenie Klunzinger, 1870.
European barracuda, Sphyraena sphyraena (Linnaeus, 1758).
Sphyraena tome Fowler, 1903.
Yellowmouth barracuda, Sphyraena viridensis Cuvier, 1829.
Sphyraena waitii Ogilby, 1908.

Only some species of Barracuda grow to a large size. 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.