The Barracuda of Florida 97 



barracuda come into view, the arrowlike form 

 moving gracefully, imperceptibly by, like some 

 grotesque torpedo with staring black eyes. Such 

 fishes are dreaded by old " reefers," and many 

 stones are related, especially of the Bahama bar- 

 racuda, which suggest that as regards fierceness, 

 the fish should be classed with the shark. Yet it 

 was my custom with others to swim across and 

 through a deep channel daily where large barra- 

 cudas were abundant, and so-called man-eaters 

 more so ; but we were never disturbed, and the 

 only reliable instance of a barracuda attacking a 

 swimmer, that came under my notice, was the 

 one referred to. Regarding the vicious reputa- 

 tion of the great fish, Jordan and Evermann say 

 that it is " sometimes dangerous to bathers, being 

 fierce as a shark." 



The barracuda is an edible fish. Outside what 

 might be termed "pan-fishes," as yellowtails, 

 grunts, and a few others which are excellent, I 

 would give it the first place; yet on the Cuban 

 coast and in some of the West India Islands the 

 fish is supposed to be poisonous at times. This 

 was certainly not true seventy miles from Cuba, 

 where I caught and ate the fish every month in 

 the year. At Bahama and along the reefs of the 



