The California Barracuda 103 
belongs to the family Sphyrenide. It is a long 
and very slender fish, the lower jaw projecting, 
the muzzle sharp and pointed, the eyes black 
and conspicuous. Its colors are brown or green 
above, the belly white. When taken from the 
water the back, like that of the yellowtail, often 
takes on a bluish, almost iridescent, hue. The 
fins are tinted a light yellow, so that when the 
fish is seen deep in the water, it is sometimes 
mistaken for the yellowtail. Along the mainland 
the barracuda rarely ventures inshore, most of 
the catches from San Diego to Santa Cruz being 
made from one to five or more miles from the surf; 
but at the islands, —San Clemente, Santa Cata- 
lina, Anacapa, Santa Rosa, Santa Cruz, and San 
Miguel,—where deep water sweeps the very rocks, 
the barracuda is caught not one hundred feet 
from shore, great schools moving up and down the 
fringes of kelp — the fishes’ highway — in search 
of anchovies, sardines, and squid, the food of its 
choice. There are several “runs” of this fish, 
which mean that large schools move in, or up 
the coast, at intervals. That they follow the 
general contour of the mainland is certain, as in 
the spring the barracuda is first reported from 
Coronado; then the fishermen catch them from 
