Great Barracuda
Scientific Name: Sphyraena barracuda
Lean, fast and powerful, great barracudas sometimes team up to herd a school of fish into shallow water and trap them. Once their last meal has been fully digested, the barracudas will attack the confined animals.
Region: Philippines
Appearance
Like a silver bullet, the great barracuda is long, thin and lean with a pointed head with a large mouth at the end. The great barracuda hovers around the reef with its mouth half open, displaying all of its pointy sharp teeth. Reaching up to lengths of 6.5 feet (2 m) and weighing 110 pounds (50 kg), the great barracuda is the largest of all the barracudas. There have been reports that this fish has reached lengths of 10 feet (2.5 m). Although it is so big, this fish can chase after its prey at speeds of 40 feet per second.
Although the great barracuda is almost always silvery green, it can change shades to match its environment when necessary. If stalking an animal near the bottom, this fish can darken its skin color. When this happens seven bars on the side of the body appear.
Young barracudas have a long dark stripe across their body. At they grow, the stripe breaks up and becomes blotched and eventually disappears.
Habitat
Great barracudas linger near the water's surface alone or in small groups. The adults will also venture near the shore in murky waters where they are almost hidden from sight. The young hide among the branching roots of mangrove trees or between corals and sponges on the reef.
Range
Great barracudas live in the warm parts of all the oceans.
Diet
Floating near the surface, the great barracuda has a bird's eye view of its surroundings. As soon as it spies its prey, this fish waits until the animal has its guard down. With a burst of speed, it chases after it. Tearing its prey into large pieces, the great barracuda swims away then circles back to chow down on the pieces. Typically, this barracuda eats fish, octopuses, and shrimp, but will also dive down and eat animals sitting on the ocean floor.
Reproduction
Great barracudas reproduce when ocean waters begin to warm, by swimming into shallow waters to mate. They are pelagic spawners, which means they will all gather in an area to release eggs and sperm and the fertilized eggs will be taken away on the currents to drift. This distributes the great barracuda to all the warm oceans of the world. When the fry or baby fish hatch out of the eggs, they seek out shelter in weedy coastal areas. After they are big enough to defend themselves, the young great barracudas venture out into the open water areas surrounding coral reefs.
A species or group of organisms that is in danger of extinction or disappearing
from the face of the earth in the near future if its situation is not improved.
A species that can be found throughout its natural range but is declining in number and may become
endangered in the absence of special protection efforts.
A species that is not declining in number but is of special concern because it is sensitive to pressure by
particular human activities or natural events.
A species that is not declining in number and is not sensitive to pressures by human activities or natural
events.
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Threats and Management
The great barracuda used to be sought after for their meat, but recently it has been found that the majority of the larger great barracudas have high amounts of ciguatera fish poisoning, a type of toxin commonly found in fish. Eating fish with ciguatera causes an illness that can result in stomach and digestive related problems, some severe physiological problems including severe headaches, soreness of the muscles, changes in blood pressure and heart problems, and sometimes even death. Smaller barracudas can safely be eaten, but the larger ones often have such high levels of ciguatera that they are dangerous to eat. Many fishers avoid catching the larger ones. These large great barracudas can keep reproducing and replenishing the population. Due to the danger of the toxin, great barracuda meat is illegal to sell in the United States. This may be the reason the population of great barracudas has remained stable.
In the early 1900s, barracudas where blamed for most shark attacks. Fishers saw more barracudas than sharks and assumed that the barracudas were responsible for all the attacks to their nets and to people. In reality, barracudas rarely attack people. If they do, they may be attracted to silver jewelry worn by a person, which looks like the shiny little fish that the barracuda eats. Sudden movements and splashing and commotion in the water will also attract barracudas to people. Spear fishers carrying recently killed fish are also sometimes attacked by these large fish. When attacked, the barracuda usually takes one bite and never returns and so people are rarely killed by barracudas.
References
Web Sites:
NOTE: The following Web sites are not maintained by the John G. Shedd Aquarium and will open in a new browser window.
Fishbase:
http://filaman.uni-kiel.de/Summary/SpeciesSummary.cfm?
ID=1235&genusname=Sphyraena&speciesname=barracuda
U.S. Food and Drug Administration:
http://vm.cfsan.fda.gov/~frf/RFE2gb.html
http://vm.cfsan.fda.gov/~mow/chap36.html
Print Publications:
Debelius, H. 1999. Indian Ocean Reef Guide. Frankfurt, Germany: IKAN. 321p.
ISBN# 3-9317-0267-7.
Hoover, J.P. 1993. Hawaii's Fishes. A Guide for Snorkelers, Divers and Aquarists. Honolulu, Hawaii: Mutual Publishing. 183p. ISBN# 1-56647-001-3.
Hauser, H. 1984. Book of Marine Fishes. Houston, Texas: Gulf Publishing Company. 192p. ISBN# 1-55992-025-4.
Myers, R.F. 1999. Micronesian Reef Fishes. Barrigada, Guam: Coral Graphics. 216p.
ISBN# 0-9621564-4-2.
Perrine, D. 1997. Mysteries of the Sea. Lincolnwood, Illinois: Publications International, Ltd. 312p. ISBN# 0-7853-2430-5.
Vocabulary Words
Ciguatera fish poisoning - A form of human poisoning caused by the consumption of subtropical and tropical marine fish which have accumulated naturally occurring toxins through their diet. The toxins are known to originate from several dinoflagellate (algae) species.
Extinction - An organism that has not been present on the face of the earth for over 50 years.
Fry - Baby fish.
Organism - A living thing.
Pelagic spawners - Fish that gather in an area in the ocean where the fertilized eggs will be taken away on the currents to drift into the open ocean.
Species - A group of organisms capable of breeding and producing fertile offspring; organisms that share the same gene pool.
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