Barracudas
barracuda
Pickhandle barracuda
Sphyraena jello
About
The pickhandle barracuda is a sleek, silver predator of Indo-Pacific reefs, often seen moving in loose schools over open water. It can grow up to 150 cm long, though most adults measure closer to 120 cm.
Also known as: indo-malaysian barracuda, slender sea pike, barracuda, ginat seapike, striped seapike, blackfin barracuda, slender barracuda, giant seapike, snoek, pick handle barracuda, indian barracuda, banded barracuda, giant sea pike, sea pike, yellow-tail barracuda, seapike, pickhandle sea-pike, sea pike, dingo-fish, giant sea-pike, giant seapike, slender seapike, pick-handle barracuda
- Length
- 1.2 m · max 1.5 m
- Weight
- max 12 kg
- Depth
- up to 200 m
How to tell it apart
Several silvery barracuda species school over reefs and look similar at a distance. The pickhandle barracuda is the one with dark, wavy bars running the full length of its flanks; a plain silver barracuda without bars is a different species.
Appearance
This barracuda has a long, torpedo-shaped, silver body marked with about 20 dark, wavy bars running down each side. Its tail fin is yellow, and its lower jaw juts out past the upper jaw.
Habitat
Found on current-swept lagoon and seaward reefs across the Indo-Pacific, as well as in bays, estuaries and turbid lagoons. It lives at depths from about 20 to 200 metres, though divers usually see it in the top 60 metres. It often gathers in schools by day and hunts alone after dark.
Did you know?
After it spawns, the pickhandle barracuda releases its eggs or sperm, and this frees up space inside its body so it can eat larger meals.
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