74 Papers from the Department of Marine Biology. 



HABITS. 



Little is known about the habits of the barracuda, hence the few 

 notes that have been collected in the course of this research may be 

 of value. The fish seems in the main to be rather solitary. Only once 

 was a school of them noticed. The water at Loggerhead Key being 

 too shallow for an anchorage for our yacht, the Anton Dohrn, she was 

 kept tied up to a buoj' in the deep channel southeast of the sally-port 

 of Fort Jefferson on Garden Key. Around the Dohrn thus anchored 

 a small school of barracudas could sometimes be seen, and 6 or 8 fish 

 were noticed on June 23, 1912. They were possibly attracted by the 

 scraps thrown overboard from the galley; at any rate they were made 

 bold by hunger, for, after one of them had been struck with the gi'ains 

 and wounded, another one of the school was taken on a trolling spoon 

 thrown out and rapidly pulled in by hand. The appearance and 

 attitudes of the members of this band are faithfully shown in BuUen's 

 (1904) figure reproduced opposite page 55. 



On one other occasion what may perhaps be described as a small 

 school was seen. While trolling one day between Loggerhead and 

 Bird Keys I had a heavy stiike and, on hauling in, brought a large 

 barracuda to the surface. Remarkable to say this had as a companion 

 on either side a barracuda nearlj^ as large as itself. These had their 

 heads in the region of the right and left pectoral fins of the captive. 

 For this no explanation can be offered. When the captive was brought 

 nearer the boat, its companions disappeared. 



The earUest reference to the fish called SphyrcBiia is in Aristotle's 

 "History of Animals" (Book ix, chap. 3, 610 6, 5), where it is listed among 

 fishes that go in schools. Rondelet (1558), however, says nothing 

 about such a habit, nor do Cuvier and Valenciennes (1829) refer to it, 

 but they say of S. guachancho that "This species travels in companies, 

 and there are sometimes taken together more than 200 individuals, all 

 of the same size." Finally, Henderson (1916) speaks of the picudas 

 or barracudas (maximum length 6 feet) ranging the water in schools or 

 squadrons. Whether or not Cuvier and Valenciennes, and Henderson 

 also, had in mind the subject of this paper, the great barracuda, can not, 

 of course, be said. There are at least three species of the gemisSphyi'cena 

 found in the West Indies, and all are commonly called barracudas. 



In support of the present writer's contention that the big barracuda 

 is solitary rather than social. Holder may be quoted (1903, p. 90; 

 1910, p. 125); and Holder has known this fish as no other scientific 

 man ever has. This declaration of Holder's is concurred in by BuUen 

 (1904), who says of the West Indian species that it is a morose and 

 soHtary fish, that even two are seldom seen together — in short that 

 it seems to be a "comparatively scanty species." As to the California 

 barracuda (S. argeniea), Holder says that it "runs in schools, some of 

 which have been seen miles in extent." And of the South Pacific 



