Sphyrcena barracuda; its Morphology, Habits, and History. 93 



formed by the action of saprophytic bacteria, must be reckoned with. 

 These bacteria, as Fischel (1892) states, might be present in the flesh 

 or blood, as such or as spores, or might get into the flesh through wounds 

 and bruises, or by the intake of infected food. However this may be, 

 fish (especially such as have oily flesh like the barracuda) "go bad" 

 quickly under the tropical sun and when eaten in such condition 

 would give rise to ptomaine poisoning. 



SIZE. 



The big barracuda justifies its colloquial name by growing to great 

 size. My largest specimen was 4 feet 7 inches long and weighed 38 

 pounds. This is the largest specimen recorded from the lagoon at 

 Tortugas. However, one day I saw, under the wharf-house at Garden 

 Key, a specimen that looked to be fully 5 feet long. As the Velella 

 pulled out. I threw my " spoon" overboard, knowing that the fish would 

 probably follow the boat, and hoping to get a strike. My hopes were 

 realized, for before we had gone a hundred yards I had a strike which 

 in 10 seconds left me with only a hundred feet of line and a groove 

 burned in my right fore-finger just the size and depth of the line. 

 The fish, with the spoon and remainder of the line, was not seen again. 



Vincent, in his interesting, "Sea fish of Trinidad" (1910) speaks of 

 somewhat similar experiences with blistered hands while trolling for 

 what he calls the "pirate of the seas." But this is not unexpected 

 when we read that his largest specimen measured 8.5 feet. 



At Miami, Florida, on visiting a local taxidermist's shop, I found 

 its walls almost lined with the mounted skins of big fellows 4 to 6 feet 

 in length. These were taken on the Florida Reef some 6 or 8 miles 

 away. Jordan and Evermann assign 6 feet as the average maximum 

 size for the West Indian specimens, and this is corroborated by Hen- 

 derson (1912), while Poey (1856) states that the Havana fishermen say 

 that it sometimes attains a weight of "fifty livres" which would indi- 

 cate a length of over 6 feet. As noted above, Holder has had wide 

 experience with these fish and he states (1903) that he has taken them 

 in the Florida Keys between 6 and 7 feet long and weighing 60 to 70 

 pounds. However, he adds that he has heard of specimens even larger 

 than these. 



One of the older writers on the natural history of the Antilles, Roche- 

 fort (1665), gives the length of the barracuda as from 6 to 8 feet with 

 a girth in proportion. Du Tertre (1667) quotes Rochefort with ap- 

 proval, but gives no figures of his own. Sloane (1707) had only small 

 specimens, but indicates that it grew to a large size. Labat (1742), 

 however, makes up for any deficiencies by declaring that "They 

 have been seen in this river [Gallion] 18 to 20 feet long and of the size 

 of a horse." His statement, however, must be taken cum grano satis. 

 Catesby (1754), speaking of Bahama fish, is more moderate, though his 



