Sphyraena sphyraena

European barracuda
Conservation status
Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Actinopterygii
Order:	Perciformes
Family:	Sphyraenidae
Genus:	Sphyraena
Species:	S. sphyraena
Binomial name
Sphyraena sphyraena Linnaeus, 1758
Synonyms
Esox sphyraena, Esox spet, Sphyraena spet, Sphyraena vulgaris, Sphyraena bocagei, Sphyraena guachancho.[2]

Sphyraena sphyraena, the European barracuda, is a ray-finned predatory fish of the Mediterranean basin and the warmer waters of the Atlantic Ocean.

Description

Sphyraena sphyraena has a long, fairly compressed body which is covered with small, smooth scales. It has a large mouth with a projecting lower jaw, the jaws are lined with prominent sharp teeth. It is dark above and silvery below and in some freshly caught specimens there is a yellow band running parallel to the lateral line.^[3] They are normally around 30–60 cm in length and weigh 6 kg but there are records of fish 165 cm long and reaching weights of 12 kg or more.^[4]

Distribution

In the Eastern Atlantic Sphyraena sphyraena is found from the Bay of Biscay in the north through the Canary Islands and the Azores to Mossamedes, Angola in the south and is found off Bermuda and Brazil in the western Atlantic. It is also found throughout the Mediterranean Sea and the Black Sea.^[3] It has been found as far north as Cornwall in the United Kingdom.^[5]

Ecology

Sphyraena sphyraena is normally a pelagic species found high in the water column, but smaller fish often found near bottom of the water column. The main food is other fish but sometimes includes cephalopods and crustaceans. They are a social species and large groups of Sphyraena sphyraena numbering between ten and two hundred.^[6]

Fisheries

It is caught in some quantities by commercial fisheries and it is an important game fish.^[3]

References

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