You can sponsor this page

Sphyraena argentea  Girard, 1854

Pacific barracuda
Add your observation in Fish Watcher
Native range | All suitable habitat | Point map | Year 2100
This map was computer-generated and has not yet been reviewed.
Sphyraena argentea   AquaMaps   Data sources: GBIF OBIS
Upload your photos and videos
 Pictures | Google image
Image of Sphyraena argentea (Pacific barracuda)
Sphyraena argentea
Picture by FAO

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).   More on author: Girard.

Environment / Climate / Range Ecology

Marine; pelagic-neritic; oceanodromous (Ref. 51243); depth range 0 - 18 m (Ref. 2850).   Temperate, preferred ?; 58°N - 24°N, 155°W - 111°W

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

Eastern Pacific: Alaska to Magdalena Bay, Baja California. Not common north of Point Conception (Ref. 11484).

Size / Weight / Age

Maturity: Lm ?  range ? - ? cm
Max length : 145 cm FL male/unsexed; (Ref. 40637); max. published weight: 12.0 kg (Ref. 40637); max. reported age: 12 years (Ref. 56049)

Short description Morphology | Morphometrics

Dorsal spines (total): 6; Dorsal soft rays (total): 9-10; Anal spines: 1; Anal soft rays: 8 - 9. Color bluish or brownish dorsally, silvery ventrally (Ref. 6885).

Biology     Glossary (e.g. epibenthic)

Usually near shore or near the surface (Ref. 2850). Often in small schools (Ref. 2850). Young enter bays (Ref. 2850). Feed mainly on other fishes (Ref. 2850). Pelagic spawners (Ref. 56049). Migrate south from the California coast during autumn, but may remain in front of the Mexican coast throughout the year (Ref. 9345). Utilized fresh, dried or salted and frozen; eaten broiled and baked (Ref. 9988). Considered as potentially dangerous due to its large, sharp teeth and aggressive disposition, though there are no reports of attacks (Ref. 9988).

Life cycle and mating behavior Maturity | Reproduction | Spawning | Eggs | Fecundity | Larvae

Pelagic spawner (Ref. 56049).

Main reference Upload your references | References | Coordinator | Collaborators

Eschmeyer, W.N., E.S. Herald and H. Hammann, 1983. A field guide to Pacific coast fishes of North America. Boston (MA, USA): Houghton Mifflin Company. xii+336 p. (Ref. 2850)

IUCN Red List Status (Ref. 115185)

  Least Concern (LC) 

CITES (Ref. 94142)

Not Evaluated

Threat to humans

  Traumatogenic (Ref. 13513)




Human uses

Fisheries: commercial; gamefish: yes
FAO(Publication : search) | FisheriesWiki | Sea Around Us

More information

Countries
FAO areas
Ecosystems
Occurrences
Introductions
Stocks
Ecology
Diet
Food items
Food consumption
Ration
Common names
Synonyms
Metabolism
Predators
Ecotoxicology
Reproduction
Maturity
Spawning
Fecundity
Eggs
Egg development
Age/Size
Growth
Length-weight
Length-length
Length-frequencies
Morphometrics
Morphology
Larvae
Larval dynamics
Recruitment
Abundance
References
Aquaculture
Aquaculture profile
Strains
Genetics
Allele frequencies
Heritability
Diseases
Processing
Mass conversion
Collaborators
Pictures
Stamps, Coins
Sounds
Ciguatera
Speed
Swim. type
Gill area
Otoliths
Brains
Vision

Tools

E-book | Field guide | Length-frequency wizard | Life-history tool | Point map | Classification Tree | Catch-MSY |

Special reports

Check for Aquarium maintenance | Check for Species Fact Sheets | Check for Aquaculture Fact Sheets

Download XML

Summary page | Point data | Common names | Photos

Internet sources

BHL | Cloffa | Websites from users | Check FishWatcher | CISTI | Catalog of Fishes (gen., sp.) | DiscoverLife | ECOTOX | Faunafri | Fishes of Iran | Fishtrace | GenBank(genome, nucleotide) | GloBI | GOBASE | Google Books | Google Scholar | Google | IGFA World Record | MitoFish | Otolith Atlas of Taiwan Fishes | PubMed | Reef Life Survey | RFE Identification | Scirus | SeaLifeBase | Tree of Life | Wikipedia(Go, Search) | World Records Freshwater Fishing | Zoobank | Zoological Record

Estimates of some properties based on models

Phylogenetic diversity index (Ref. 82805):  PD50 = 0.5000   [Uniqueness, from 0.5 = low to 2.0 = high].
Trophic Level (Ref. 69278):  4.5   ±0.80 se; Based on food items.
Resilience (Ref. 69278):  Medium, minimum population doubling time 1.4 - 4.4 years (K=0.14; tm=2-3; tmax=12; Fec=42,000).
Prior r = 0.56, 2 SD range = 0.34 - 0.92, log(r) = -0.58, SD log(r) = 0.25, Based on: 1 M, 1 K, 2 tgen, 2 tmax, 2 Fec records
Vulnerability (Ref. 59153):  High to very high vulnerability (69 of 100) .
Price category (Ref. 80766):   Medium.