Scientific Classification
- Common Name
- great barracuda
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Osteichthyes
- Order
- Perciformes
- Family
- Sphyraenidae
- Genus Species
- Sphyraena barracuda
Fast Facts
- Description
- Silver cylindrical body with dark blotches and lighter side bands. Mouth is a prominent feature with its obvious conical teeth and large underslung jaw. Dorsal fins are widely separated. Slightly centrally cleft (emarginate) caudal fin.
- Size
- 45.7 to 91.4 cm (1.5 to 3 ft) avg.; 200 cm (6.6 ft) max
- Weight
- 50 kg (110.2 lbs.) max
- Diet
- Fish, cephalopods, and occasionally shrimp
- Incubation
- Species exhibits dioecism. Fertilization is external. Species is open water/substratum egg scatterer.
- Range
- Western Atlantic: Massachusetts and Bermuda to Caribbean and Brazil
Eastern Atlantic: Sierra Leone to St. Paul's Rocks and Sao Tome Island
Indo-Pacific: Red Sea and East Africa to Hawaii; throughout Micronesia
- Habitat
- 0 to 100 meters (0 to 330 ft) in tropical & sub-tropical marine and estuarine waters
- Population
- Global: No data
- Status
- IUCN: Not listed
CITES: Not listed
USFWS: Not listed
Fun Facts
For more information about bony fishes, explore the Bony Fishes InfoBook.
Ecology and Conservation
No data
Bibliography
Bond, Carl E. Biology of Fishes - Second Edition. Saunders College Publishing, 1996.
Humann, Paul. Reef Fish Identification - Florida, Caribbean, Bahamas. New World Publications, Inc., 1992.
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