80 Papers from the Department of Marine Biology. 



the much- vaunted and everywhere successfully used "crawfish." 

 Probably the curiosity of the fish is attracted by the silver-sided fish 

 as it is by a trolling white rag or spoon There is no evidence whatever 

 that it at any time eats "crawfish," as the large spiny crustacean 

 (Palinurus) of the reef is locally called. 



Most writers on this fish say that it is carnivorous, but most of them 

 are so obsessed with its apparent desire for human flesh that they refer 

 to no other source of food. However, Cuvier and Valenciennes (1829) 

 speak of a spet of the "middle sea" having its stomach filled with 

 atherinas and little clupeids. Bullen (1904) dissected specimens from 

 the Indian Ocean and found their stomachs filled with small mackerel. 

 The man-eating habit referred to will be discussed in another section. 



With regard to its piscivorous feeding habits, Bullen (1904) tells 

 a story which is worthy of condensation and reproduction here. It 

 seems that while the oceanic waters around New Zealand abound in 

 fine food-fish, the fresh waters are almost totally devoid of fishes worth 

 taking for either food or sport. Consequently, at great expense of 

 money, time, and trouble, salmon eggs were sent out many years ago 

 and planted in one of the rivers. Some of the eggs hatched, and some 

 of the young survived. These grew apace and finally reached the 

 stage when, following their natural instincts, they journeyed seaward. 

 Down in the estuary of their river they first tasted the salt water, but 

 here some native barracudas were prowling around in a school seeking 

 what they might devour, and few if any of the young salmon ever 

 went back to their place of birth. This story illustrates not merely 

 the feeding habits and voracity of the barracuda, but the necessity of 

 knowing the natural history of the native animals of a country before 

 attempting acclimatization of new ones. 



PARASITES. 



From what has been said as to the food and manner of feeding of the 

 big barracuda, it is to be expected that it would be the host of all sorts 

 of entozoa, parasitic helminth worms, but strange to say such is not 

 the case. Having myself paid no attention to such parasites in my 

 specimens, I have naturally turned to the writings of Professor Edwin 

 Linton. Fortunately Professor Linton has spent considerable time 

 at Tortugas studying its parasitic entozoa, and among the fishes exam- 

 ined were numerous specimens of S. barracuda. In 1908 he notes that 

 3 large and 4 small barracudas were examined, and in these immature 

 nematodes were found for the most part encysted in the viscera. Like- 

 wise a few trematodes were found. So few were parasites of all kinds 

 that Linton notes: 



"It is perhaps worthy of remark that the great barracuda, which is a very 

 voracious and predatory fish, appears to harbor but few parasites, either as 

 a final or intermediate host. This conclusion is warranted also from the 



