|
How does it look like?
It has an elongated body, slightly compressed and scaly, with a very low-cut caudal fin. It has a long and pointed snout, a large and horizontal mouth, with a slightly prominent lower jaw. It is bluish-gray, greenish or brownish on the upper back. The belly is more silvery and adults show, on the back, between 22 and 24 dark bands.
Where does it live?
It lives on the coast, from 5 to 30 meters, occasionally up to 50 meters deep. Juveniles are gregarious with groups of up to 100 individuals, while adults are mostly solitary. The schools move in patrolling or circling formations on submerged rock formations and sunken ships. This species inhabits the Atlantic, from Biscay to Angola, including the Canary Islands, Azores and Madeira; and in the west, from Bermuda to Brazil. It can also be found in the Mediterranean and in the Black Sea.
How does it feed?
Mediterranean barracuda feed on a wide variety of fish, such as sardines, garfish, as well as octopus and shrimp. Their behavior favors their hunting technique: when they swim close to the surface, they have a good aerial view, so when they locate a prey, they wait for it to be distracted and follow it at high speed. They chop up the prey into large pieces and swim away to return and swim in circles to eat the remains. One of their favorite prey are those fish resting on the bottom.
How do they reproduce?
Mediterranean barracuda breed between June and September, when the water starts warming up. They breed at shallow depths, where they aggregate to expel eggs and sperm in an area where the fertilized planktonic eggs are carried away by the current. When the juveniles hatch, the vegetation serves as shelter in coastal waters. Males become sexualy mature 2 to 3 years later, females at an age around 3 to 4 years. Finally, when they grow up, the individuals enter the open sea.
Is a confusion possible?
It is often confused with Sphyraena sphyraena Linnaeus, 1758, even in scientific publications. However, S. viridensis stands out because of the twenty dark bands on the back. The main distinctive trait is that it does not have scales on the cheeks, which can be observed in S. sphyraena. Confusion can also occur with two species immigrated from the Red Sea, which would be Sphyraena chrysotaenia Klunzinger, 1884 or Sphyraena obtusata Cuvier, 1829. Both would be somewhat smaller and are distributed in the eastern Mediterranean between Libya and Egypt. Sphyraena chrysotaenia would also show longitudinal bands of yellowish-brown color. Finally, some may also think that the species is the same as the tropical barracuda, Sphyraena barracuda (Edwards, 1771), but the mediterranean one is much smaller in size, ferocity and sporting qualities.
Curiosities
· Sphyraena viridensis is the barracuda usually observed by divers at the Mediterranean. Sphyraena sphyraena, on the other hand, inhabits sandier bottoms.
· The barracuda is a predator which in tropical seas is as scary as sharks, to the point that many accidents that look like sharks are caused by them.
· Some of these species entered the Mediterranean Sea through the Red Sea, with the construction of the Suez Canal.
· They are relatively easy to fish and constitute an important part of the sport fishing catch at our coasts, although their meat is not one of the most appreciated.
Taxonomy
Phylum: Chordata, Infraphylum: Gnathostomata, Parvphylum: Osteichthyes, Gigaclass: Actinopterygii, Class: Teleostei, Superclass: Actinopteri, Family: Sphyraenidae, Genus: Sphyraena
|
