Great Barracuda

Great barracuda is a slender fish which grows up to six feet long. They are from the genus ‘sphyraena’ which means ‘pike-like’ in Latin. With its elongated body, a large mouth with conical unequal fang-like teeth and powerful jaws, it is also called the ‘Tiger of the sea’. Great barracuda is included in one of the predators on top of the food chain. It is not prized commercially due to its involvement in the ciguatera fish poisoning, however, is widely known as a gaming fish.

Common Names

The common names of the Great barracuda include barracuda, barra, commerson’s sea pike. Some of the other names by which it is referred as are alu (Carolinian), barkura (Miskito), barracuda bicuda (Portuguese), barrcouda (French), picuda (Spanish), snoek (Dutch), Kupala (Hawaiian), gaviana (Portuguese) etc.

Description

Great barracuda is a fierce looking fish with an elongated silver body and fang like jaws. It has a pointed head with large mouth. The lower jaw protrudes beyond its upper jaws. Great barracuda possesses strong jaws with conical teeth which are unequal in size. The gill cover of the fish consists of small scales instead of spines. The barracuda has two dorsal fines which are widely separated. The first dorsal fin has five spines and the other is located above the anal fin and has nine soft rays. It has a dorsal spinous fin above its pelvis. It has a fork tailed fin which makes it a fast swimmer. In coloration, Great barracuda are grey, silver, dark green or blue on top and fading into white towards its belly. Their cordial fins are dark violet with whitish tip.

Size: Great barracuda grows up to a size of 1.5 to 3 feet on an average. The maximum size of the great barracuda recorded has been 6.6 feet.

Weight: they weigh around a maximum of 50 kg.

Distribution

Great barracuda are mostly found in the Mediterranean, Caribbean, western Atlantic and tropical waters. They are common in the Pacific Ocean (Malaysia, Fiji and Indonesia), Indian Ocean (Thailand, Maldives and Burma) and the Caribbean. They range in the Western Atlantic from Massachusetts, Bermuda to the Caribbean and Brazil. Towards the Eastern Atlantic, it ranges from Sierra Leone to St. Paul’s Rocks and Sao Tome Island. In the Indo-Pacific region, they are found across the Red Sea and Eastern Africa till Hawaii.

Habitat

Great barracuda inhabit the marine tropical and sub-tropical waters. The shallow waters with submerged reefs, coral heads, coastal lagoons, open sea and mangroves are home to the great barracudas.

Behavior

Great barracuda are solitary hunters. Juvenile barracudas form a large school of hundreds and thousands which also protects them from predators. Great barracudas are ambush predators. They camouflage themselves near sea grass and attack the prey by overrunning them with short brush of speed. Barracudas are attracted to shiny object as they mistake it for silver fishes that they commonly eat. Great barracuda do not have eyelids like most of the fishes, and if they are moving very slowly, it means that they are asleep. They are alert for danger even when they are sleeping and are aggressive if trespassed.

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