98 Big Game Fishes 



West India Islands and at our province of Porto 

 Rico the barracuda attains, according to common 

 report, a very large size, eight feet being men- 

 tioned as its maximum growth by the United 

 States Fish Commission. 



Of the habits of the great barracuda in its 

 solitudes, little is known. The fish so interested 

 me by its singular personality that I watched it 

 whenever opportunity offered, and it was always 

 the uncompromising foe to small fry, lurking 

 near schools of sardines or mullets, creeping upon 

 them with the slightest display of motion on the 

 part of its fins, conveying the impression of a 

 Machiavellian cunning, of ferocity coupled with 

 " ways that are dark," its entire make-up being 

 suggestive of the tiger which creeps upon its 

 victim and delights in playing with it. 



