Great Barracuda

Tags:

Great Barracuda

Click to Enlarge Picture

Great barracudas are strong swimmers and can move quickly through the water. By Laban712 via Wikipedia and Wikimedia Commons. See link below.
Image Source

Great barracudas have long, narrow bodies that allow them to move quickly through the water. Barracudas are predators that rely on their fast swimming abilities to catch and eat other fish. Adult great barracudas weigh from 5 to 20 pounds, and they are usually between 2 and 4 feet long.

Barracudas are active during the day. Scientists think that they use their eyesight the most when they are searching for other fish to eat. Barracudas use many strategies when they are hunting. Sometimes they stay in one place for a while and wait for a fish to swim by. Other times they move around and try to catch food by swimming faster than the fish they are chasing. Barracudas have been measured swimming at a speed of 36 miles per hour for a short time.

Barracudas live in the oceans all around the world in areas that are near the equator. In North America, great barracudas are commonly found in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of North Carolina and south to the Caribbean Sea. Great barracudas spend most of their time away from other fish of their same species, but they sometimes gather in large groups, which are called schools, and hunt smaller fish together.

Additional Images:

Click to Enlarge Picture

Barracudas have large teeth and powerful jaws that they use to catch, kill, and eat other fish. By Clark Anderson/AquaImages
Image Source

Click to Enlarge Picture

These barracuda are gathered in a group that is sometimes called a school. By Larry Basch of the National Park Service
Image Source

Additional Links:

http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/fish/gallery/descript/GreatBarracuda/GreatBarracuda.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_barracuda
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barracuda

References

For references, please see above links.  

 

 

 

 

 





 

 

 

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.