Jordan and Evermann. Fishes of North America. 823 



p. Body less slender, depth 7% in length; scales in lateral lino 160 to 170. 



ARGENTEA, 1204. 



ee. Body very slender, depth 9 or 10 in length; scales in lateral line 150. 



8PHYRJENA, 1205. 



1199. SPHYR^NA PICUDA, Bloch & Schneider. 

 (GREAT BARRACUDA; PICUDA; BECUNA.) 



Head 3; depth 2 in head; eye rather small, about 6 in head, equal to 

 width of interorbital area. D. V-I, 9; A. 1,9; scales 10-75 to 85-10, 

 the cross series counted from lateral line to front of dorsal and anal fins 

 respectively. Body oblong, slightly compressed, covered with large scales. 

 Head large; maxillary large; nearly length of head, its posterior margin 

 reaching past front of orbit. Lower jaw with fleshy tip, bluntly conical. 

 Interorbital area concav r e, with a shallow median groove (as wide as pupil, 

 at posterior edge of orbit), divided by a ridge in front and behind. Supra- 

 ocular ridge bony and striate. Preocular ridge present. Teeth large ; pre- 

 maxillary teeth small, little compressed, irregularly set, nearly uniform 

 in size, somewhat thicker and shorter posteriorly; premaxillary with two 

 pairs of very large compressed teeth, their length more than half width 

 of pupil: anterior ones directed downward, posterior ones downward and 

 backward ; teeth in lateral series of lower jaw small anteriorly, increas- 

 ing gradually backward, when they nearly equal those on palatines ; pal- 

 atine teeth similar to those on lower jaw, arranged in reversed order. 

 Distance from tip of snout to front of dorsal 2f in body ; second dorsal 

 spine longest, 1J- in snout ; second dorsal and anal equal ; anal inserted 

 under first third of soft dorsal; caudal forked, upper lobe the longer; 

 pectorals reaching beyond front of dorsal, 2 in head ; origin of first dor- 

 sal slightly behind the ventrals ; cheeks and opercles scaly, about 12 

 rows of scales on cheeks ; upper part of head with small embedded scales. 

 Color silvery, darker above ; sides in young with about 10 dark blotches 

 which break up and disappear with age. Some inky spots, usually on 

 posterior part of body, are very conspicuous in both old and young speci- 

 mens. Soft dorsal, anal and ventral fins black, except on margins. Pec- 

 torals plain, except upper part of its margin ; which is black. Fins of 

 very young specimens nearly plain. West Indies and Brazil, north to 

 Pensacola, Charleston, and the Bermudas, very common in the tropics. 

 The largest and most voracious of the Barracudas, reaching a length of 6 

 feet; valued as food; sometimes dangerous to bathers, being fierce as a 

 shark. (Piciida, the Spanish name, from the same root as pike.) 



Umbla minor marina, the Barracuda, CATESBT, Fishes of Carolina, etc., pi. 1, 1731, Bahamas. 

 Picuda, PARKA, Dif. Piezas, Hist. Nat. Cuba, 90, pi. 35, fig. 2, 1787, Havana. 

 Sphyrsena sphyrsena, var. picuda, BLOCK & SCHNEIDER, Syst. Ichth., 110, 1801; after PARRA. 

 Sphyrsena lecuna, LACEPEDE, Hist. Nat. Poiss., v, pi. 9, fig. 3, 1803, from a drawing made by 



PLUMIER, at Martinique. 



Esox barracuda, SHAAV, Zool., v, 105, 1804; after CATESBY. 

 Sphyrsena picuda, GUNTHER, Cat., in, 336, 1861 ; JORDAN & GILBERT, Synopsis, 412, 1883; MEEK & 



NEWLAND, Proc. Ac. Nat. Sci. Phila.,1884,68. 



