Barracuda

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Barracuda
Fossil range: Early Eocene to Present[1]

Great barracuda, Sphyraena barracuda, with prey
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Perciformes
Family: Sphyraenidae
Genus: Sphyraena
Klein, 1778
Species

See text

The barracuda is a ray-finned fish known for its large size (up to 1.82m / 6ft in length and up to a foot in width, for some species)[2] and fearsome appearance. Its body is long, fairly compressed, and covered with small, smooth scales. It is a salt water fish, and is found in tropical and subtropical oceans worldwide. It is of the genus Sphyraena, the only genus in the family Sphyraenidae.

Contents

[edit] Appearance and physical description

Great barracuda hovering in the current at the Paradise Reef, Cozumel, Mexico.

Barracudas are elongated fish 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, pointed, and it is 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 second dorsal fin 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 swim bladder is large.

In general, the barracuda's coloration is dark green or gray 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 duskish. Barracudas only live in oceans.

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 North Carolina to Brazil and reaching Bermuda; the California Barracuda (S. argentea), extending from Puget Sound southwards to Cabo 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.

[edit] Behavior

Scuba diver inside a battery of sawtooth barracudas in Koh Tao, Thailand.
Closeup of a great barracuda
Great barracuda and jacks, Saba, Netherlands Antilles
A battery of sawtooth barracudas, Sphyraena putnamae in Bora Bora.
Northern sennet, Sphyraena borealis
A battery of yellowtail barracudas, Sphyraena flavicauda off Dayang, Malaysia.

Barracudas occur both singly and in groups around reefs, but also appear in open seas. The collective name for a group of barracudas is a battery[3]. 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 (up to 28 miles per hour (45 km/h))[4] to overrun their prey, sacrificing maneuverability.

Adult barracudas are more or less solitary in their habits, while young and half-grown fish frequently congregate in schools. These fish do not care for their young. A barracuda's diet is composed of fish of all types. Large barracudas, when gorged, may attempt to herd a shoal of prey fish in shallow water, where they will guard over the fish until they are ready for another meal. Large barracudas have been known to eat young barracudas.

[edit] Barracudas and humans

Like sharks, barracudas have long had a bad reputation as being dangerous to humans. As barracudas are also scavengers, they may mistake snorkelers for large predators and follow them in the hopes of scavenging the remains of an attack on prey.

Being formidable hunters, barracudas are capable of defending themselves against humans. Handfeeding or trying to touch them is 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 have bitten a human, but these incidents are rare and are believed to be caused by bad visibility. Barracudas will stop after the first bite as humans are not their normal food source.

Wearing jewelry and other shiny objects is discouraged as barracudas are attracted to things that glint and shine.[citation needed]

[edit] As food

Barracudas are caught as both food and game fish. They are most often eaten as fillet or steak and have a strong taste like tuna or salmon. Larger species, like the great barracuda, have in some areas been implicated in cases of ciguatera food poisoning.[5] In southern Nigeria they are smoked and used in the preparation of different soups. The reason for smoking is because when cooked fresh, the fish is quite soft and disintegrates in the soup.

[edit] Angling

Barracuda are prize fish and can be caught by either conventional gear or fly fishing. They are extremely powerful and require appropriately scaled tackle. People that fish for fish such as the barracuda should use steel wire due to their extremely sharp teeth. Floridians who fish for them use around 30 pound test connected to a swivel, which is connected to steel wire and the preferred size hook. For bait fishers use goggle eye, blue runners, threadfins (greenies), sardines, or other kinds of bait. When lure-fishing, Barracuda tubes in yellow and green and white work best because they imitate their prey - the houndfish or needlefish. The lure should be retrieved as soon as possible. Barracuda thrash around, violently, trying to get free, which is dangerous for the fisher because the barracuda has sharp teeth.

[edit] Species

There are 26 known species:

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ "A compendium of fossil marine animal genera". Bulletins of American Paleontology 364: p.560. 2002. http://strata.ummp.lsa.umich.edu/jack/showgenera.php?taxon=611&rank=class. Retrieved on 2007-12-25. 
  2. ^ Humann, P.; Deloach, N. (February 2002). Reef Fish Identification, Florida, Caribbean, Bahamas, 3rd edition. Jacksonville, Florida, USA: New World Publications, Inc.. pp. 64. ISBN 1-878348-30-2. 
  3. ^ http://www.hintsandthings.co.uk/kennel/collectives.htm
  4. ^ Reefquest Center for Shark Research. What's the Speediest Marine Creature?
  5. ^ U.S. Food & Drug Administration. Hazard, Market, Geographic and Nomenclature Information for Great Barracuda.

[edit] References

  • "Sphyraenidae". FishBase. Ed. Rainer Froese and Daniel Pauly. January 2006 version. N.p.: FishBase, 2006.
  • Labat Jean-Baptiste (1663-1738) Nouveau voyage Isles de l'Amerique, contenant l'histoire naturelle...l'origine, les mour, la religion Paris 1742.
  • Norman JR, F.L.S. and Fraser, FC, D.Sc., F.L.S.Field Book of Giant Fishes G.P. Putnam's Sons New York 1949.
  • Rochefort Charles D. (1605-1683) Histoire naturelle et morale des illes Antilles de l'Amerique.
  • Sloane Hans Sir (1660-1753) A voyage to the islands of Madera, Barbados, Nieves, S. Christophers and Jamaica London, Printed by BM for the author, 1707-1725.

[edit] External links

Search Wikimedia Commons Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Sphyraenidae
Search Wiktionary Look up Barracuda in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
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