The Barracuda of Florida gI 
the blue as it followed, wolflike, stealthily in my 
wake when sculling a dinghy across the channel. 
All my catches were made from Key West to 
Loggerhead, within a radius of sixty miles, and 
most of them in the beautiful blue arterylike 
channels which encircle Garden, Bush, Sand, 
Bird, and other keys, where they could always 
be found. The fish is extremely curious, and 
so marked are its peculiarities that I was con- 
tinually comparing it to land animals. In its 
curiosity it called to mind the antelope, as by 
certain actions it could easily be attracted within 
reach of the grains or so that I could cast a live 
“shad” (Xystema cinereum), mullet, or young 
garfish before it. This was accomplished in an 
absurdly simple manner, none less than by tying 
a bit of white cloth upon a string about four feet 
long and trolling it behind. ‘As a result, sooner 
or later, I would see the ugly pointed jaw and 
black eyes of a barracuda come out of the gloom 
and approach to within a few feet, moving first 
to one side, then to the other, shooting ahead 
slightly, then dropping astern, but never making 
an effort to attack. The fish was merely curious, 
and would dash away at the first alarm. 
By this it must not be assumed that it was an 
