Barracudas

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Barracudas
Great barracuda (Sphyraena barracuda)

Great barracuda ( Sphyraena barracuda )

Systematics
Spinefish (Acanthopterygii)
Perch relatives (Percomorphaceae)
Carangaria
Order : Carangiformes
Family : Sphyraenidae
Genre : Barracudas
Scientific name of the  family
Sphyraenidae
Rafinesque , 1815
Scientific name of the  genus
Sphyraena
Artedi , 1793

The barracudas or arrow pikes (Sphyraenidae) are predatory fish from the group of carangaria within the perch relatives (Percomorphaceae). There are a total of 28 known species , all of which belong to one genus .

features

Barracudas have a pike-like , elongated, silvery, shiny body covered with small cycloid scales .

head

The head, the fixed eyes and the mouth are large, the lower jaw protrudes over the upper jaw. It is studded with particularly large fangs that sit in deep tooth sockets. Gill traps are missing or only exist in rudiments. The two short dorsal fins are far apart. The first has five hard rays , the second, which is located directly above the anal fin , has one hard and nine soft rays. The pectoral fins sit relatively low, the caudal fin is forked.

The relatively stiff barracudas only have 24 vertebrae . They have 80 to 166 scales along the well-developed lateral line organ . Barracudas can be 23 centimeters to two meters long, depending on the species. The largest species are the great barracuda ( Sphyraena barracuda ), Sphyraena afra and Sphyraena guachancho .

distribution

Barracudas live in tropical and subtropical areas of the Atlantic , Pacific and Indian Oceans . Adults are exclusively marine , while young fish also migrate into the brackish water of estuaries. The European barracuda ( Sphyraena sphyraena ) lives in the Atlantic, including Madeira , the Azores and the Canary Islands , but also in the Mediterranean and the Black Sea .

nutrition

Barracuda with prey

Barracudas feed on smaller fish. Young barracuda and smaller species live among other gobies , New World and Old World ears fish and garfish . Adult specimens of the larger species feed on snapper , mackerel and juvenile tuna . Since barracudas are at the end of the food chain , the poisonous ciguatoxin accumulates in them, which can result in poisoning when eating barracuda meat.

behavior

Young yellow-tailed barracudas ( S. flavicauda ) in the Gulf of Aqaba off Dahab , Sinai Peninsula

Young barracudas often live in huge schools in the open water ( pelagic ), less often hidden between seaweed and algae or vertically between horn corals . Adult animals are often solitary animals . The different species can be diurnal or nocturnal.

Reproduction

Little is known about reproduction . They are free spawners who release their germ cells into the open water. They seem to prefer to spawn during the full moon and then gather in large shoals on the edges of rocky and coral reefs .

Dangerousness

Barracudas have a reputation for being dangerous to humans and are more feared than sharks in some areas . Their aggressiveness seems to differ depending on the region. There have been reports of over 30 attacks on people from the Caribbean . Small barracudas only make mock attacks. Large barracudas seem to be tempted to attack by blinking and flashing objects. The aggression should be preceded by a warning in the form of a snap of the mouth. The barracuda's large mandibular teeth tear severe wounds that can lead to great blood loss. However, they only bite once and then swim away.

Systematics and tribal history

Tribal history

With Sphyraena bolcensis from the Monte Bolca Formation, they can be detected in fossil form since the middle Eocene . The closely related genus Parasphyraena lived in the Upper Miocene of Western Asia.

External system

The barracudas are systematically relatively isolated. In many traditional classifications they are assigned to the mackerel-like (Scombroidei). In fact, they are more closely related to the moonfish (Menidae), the threadfin fish ( Polynemidae) and the swordfish-like (Istiophoriformes).

Sphyraena bolcensis in the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin

Internal system

Species list

Sphyraena flavicauda
Sphyraena forsteri
Sphyraena sphyraena
Sphyraena viridensis

There are 29 types. Similar species are differentiated according to color, size and number of scales and the formation of the gill spines . These characteristics change in the course of growth, so that differentiating between species is sometimes very difficult.

Web links

Commons : Barracudas  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Joseph S. Nelson : Fishes of the World . John Wiley & Sons, 2006, ISBN 0-471-25031-7
  2. ^ A b Kurt Fiedler: Textbook of Special Zoology, Volume II, Part 2: Fish . Gustav Fischer Verlag Jena, 1991, ISBN 3-334-00339-6
  3. ↑ Barracudas on Fishbase.org (English)
  4. ↑ Sphyraena sphyraena on Fishbase.org (English)
  5. ↑ a b c d Dieter Eichler, Robert F. Myers: Coral fish Central Indo-Pacific . Jahr Verlag, Hamburg, 1997, ISBN 3-86132-225-0
  6. ^ A b c Hans A. Baensch / Robert A. Patzner: Mergus Sea Water Atlas Volume 7 Perciformes (perch-like) . Mergus-Verlag, Melle, ISBN 3-88244-107-0
  7. ^ Karl Albert Frickhinger: Fossil Atlas of Fishes . Mergus-Verlag, Melle, 1999, ISBN 3-88244-018-X
  8. ↑ Ricardo Betancur-R, Edward O. Wiley, Gloria Arratia, Arturo Acero, Nicolas Bailly, Masaki Miya, Guillaume Lecointre and Guillermo Ortí: Phylogenetic classification of bony fishes . BMC Evolutionary Biology, BMC series - July 2017, DOI: 10.1186 / s12862-017-0958-3
  9. ↑ Sphyraena on Fishbase.org (English)