Sphyraena sphyraena  (Linnaeus, 1758)

European barracuda
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Sphyraena sphyraena   AquaMaps   Data sources: GBIF OBIS
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Image of Sphyraena sphyraena (European barracuda)
Sphyraena sphyraena
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Classification / Names Common names | Synonyms | Catalog of Fishes (gen., sp.) | ITIS | CoL | WoRMS | Cloffa

Actinopterygii (ray-finned fishes) > Perciformes (Perch-likes) > Sphyraenidae (Barracudas)
Etymology: Sphyraena: Greek, sphyraina, -es = the name of a fish (Ref. 45335).

Environment / Climate / Range Ecology

Marine; pelagic-neritic; depth range 0 - 100 m (Ref. 27000), usually ? - 50 m (Ref. 6949).   Subtropical

Size / Weight / Age

Maturity: Lm ?  range ? - ? cm
Max length : 165 cm TL male/unsexed; (Ref. 3397); common length : 60.0 cm SL male/unsexed; (Ref. 11101); max. published weight: 3.6 kg (Ref. 40637)

Distribution Countries | FAO areas | Ecosystems | Occurrences | Introductions | Faunafri

Eastern Atlantic: Bay of Biscay to Mossamedes, Angola, including the Mediterranean and Black Sea, Canary Islands, and Azores. Western Atlantic: Bermuda and Brazil.

Biology     Glossary (e.g. epibenthic)

Found in coastal and offshore waters (Ref. 2683). Feeds mostly on fish, less often on cephalopods and crustaceans (Ref. 11101).

Main reference Upload your references | References | Coordinator | Collaborators

De Sylva, D.P., 1990. Sphyraenidae. p. 860-864. In J.C. Quero, J.C. Hureau, C. Karrer, A. Post and L. Saldanha (eds.) Check-list of the fishes of the eastern tropical Atlantic (CLOFETA). JNICT, Lisbon; SEI, Paris; and UNESCO, Paris. Vol. 2.

IUCN Red List Status (Ref. 90363)

  Not Evaluated 

Threat to humans

  Harmless




Human uses

Fisheries: minor commercial; gamefish: yes
FAO(fisheries: production; publication : search) | FisheriesWiki | Sea Around Us

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Internet sources

BHL | Cloffa | Websites from users | Check FishWatcher | CISTI | Catalog of Fishes (gen., sp.) | DiscoverLife | Faunafri | Fishtrace | GenBank(genome, nucleotide) | GOBASE | Google Books | Google Scholar | Google | IGFA World Record | iSpecies | National databases | PubMed | Scirus | SeaLifeBase | Tree of Life | uBio | Wikipedia(Go, Search) | World Records Freshwater Fishing | Zoological Record

Estimates of some properties based on empirical models

Phylogenetic diversity index (Ref. 82805):  PD50 = 0.5000   [Uniqueness, from 0.5 = low to 2.0 = high].
Bayesian length-weight: a=0.01197 (-0.10979 - 0.13373), b=2.89 (2.81 - 2.97), based on LWR estimates for species & family-BS (Ref. 93245).
Trophic Level (Ref. 69278):  4.0   ±0.51 se; Based on food items.
Resilience (Ref. 69278):  Medium, minimum population doubling time 1.4 - 4.4 years (K= 0.123; Tmax >8 yrs).
Vulnerability (Ref. 59153):  Moderate to high vulnerability (49 of 100) .
Price category (Ref. 80766):   Medium.