Hawaiian Fishes 



151 



common mullet it lives along the coast line and ascends rivers for a short 

 distance. 



This fish is found throughout the Indo-Pacific area and through all 

 of the islands of Polynesia including the Hawaiian Islands. 



THE BARRACUDA FAMILY 



Also known as the Pike Family 

 73 Family Sphyraenidae 



The barracudas are slender, somewhat compressed, pike-like fishes 

 which reach a length of eight feet and weigh over 100 pounds. They 

 are famous for their long, knife- like teeth and ferocious habits. Carnivorous 

 and voracious in their habits, they live on all manner of live fish. They 

 eat sardines, anchovies, silversides, mackerel, and their own young. They 

 are one of the most formidable of the bony fishes and seem to fear 

 nothing in the ocean. When they are young they travel in schools, but 

 they become solitary when they reach a larger size. 



The barracudas are valued as food because their flesh is firm, delicate, 

 and of excellent flavor. 



The family contains one genus and about twenty species inhabiting 

 the warm seas of the world. Two species of this family are known from 

 Hawaiian waters. 



Great Barracuda or Kaku 



Also known as the Picuda, Welea, Kawalea, and Kupala 

 73-1 Sphyraena barracuda (Walbaum) 



Plate III, Figure 10 



From Jordan & Evermann 



The barracuda is grayish-brown in color above and silvery on the 

 sides and belly. Their sides are marked with spots which appear to form 

 about twenty short blackish bars. They reach a length of six or eight 

 feet at sea, but shoreline individuals usually average about eighteen inches 



