Sphyraena sphyraena, European barracuda : fisheries, gamefish

Sphyraena sphyraena (Linnaeus, 1758)

European barracuda
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Sphyraena sphyraena   AquaMaps   Data sources: GBIF OBIS
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Image of Sphyraena sphyraena (European barracuda)
Sphyraena sphyraena
Picture by De Sanctis, A.

Classification / Names Common names | Synonyms | Catalog of Fishes(genus, species) | ITIS | CoL | WoRMS | Cloffa

Teleostei (teleosts) > Carangaria/misc (Various families in series Carangaria) > Sphyraenidae (Barracudas)
Etymology: Sphyraena: Greek, sphyraina, -es = the name of a fish (Ref. 45335).
More on author: Linnaeus.

Environment: milieu / climate zone / depth range / distribution range Ecology

Marine; pelagic-neritic; depth range 0 - 100 m (Ref. 27000), usually ? - 50 m (Ref. 6949). Subtropical; 48°N - 18°S, 31°W - 37°E

Distribution Territories | FAO areas | Ecosystems | Occurrences | Point map | Introductions | Faunafri

Eastern Atlantic: Bay of Biscay to Mossamedes, Angola, including the Mediterranean and Black Sea, Canary Islands, and Azores. Western Atlantic: Bermuda and Brazil.

Length at first maturity / Size / Weight / Age

Maturity: Lm 27.6  range ? - ? cm
Max length : 165 cm TL male/unsexed; (Ref. 3397); common length : 60.0 cm SL male/unsexed; (Ref. 11101); max. published weight: 3.6 kg (Ref. 40637)

Biology     Glossary (e.g. epibenthic)

Found in coastal and offshore waters (Ref. 2683). Feeds mostly on fish, less often on cephalopods and crustaceans (Ref. 11101).

Life cycle and mating behavior Maturity | Reproduction | Spawning | Eggs | Fecundity | Larvae

Main reference Upload your references | References | Coordinator | Collaborators

De Sylva, D.P., 1990. Sphyraenidae. p. 860-864. In J.C. Quero, J.C. Hureau, C. Karrer, A. Post and L. Saldanha (eds.) Check-list of the fishes of the eastern tropical Atlantic (CLOFETA). JNICT, Lisbon; SEI, Paris; and UNESCO, Paris. Vol. 2. (Ref. 6949)

IUCN Red List Status (Ref. 130435: Version 2025-2 (Global))

  Least Concern (LC) ; Date assessed: 14 July 2014

CITES

Not Evaluated

CMS (Ref. 116361)

Not Evaluated

Threat to humans

  Harmless





Human uses

Fisheries: minor commercial; gamefish: yes
FAO - Fisheries: landings search; Publication: search | FishSource | Sea Around Us

More information

Trophic ecology
Food items (preys)
Diet composition
Food consumption
Food rations
Predators
Ecology
Ecology
Population dynamics
Growth parameters
Max. ages / sizes
Length-weight rel.
Length-length rel.
Length-frequencies
Mass conversion
Recruitment
Abundance
Life cycle
Reproduction
Maturity
Maturity/Gills rel.
Fecundity
Spawning
Spawning aggregations
Eggs
Egg development
Larvae
Larval dynamics
Distribution
Territories
FAO areas
Ecosystems
Occurrences
Introductions
BRUVS - Videos
Anatomy
Gill area
Brain
Otolith
Physiology
Body composition
Nutrients
Oxygen consumption
Swimming type
Swimming speed
Visual pigments
Fish sound
Diseases & Parasites
Toxicity (LC50s)
Genetics
Genome
Genetics
Heterozygosity
Heritability
Genetic Diversity
Human related
Aquaculture systems
Aquaculture profiles
Strains
Ciguatera cases
Stamps, coins, misc.
Outreach
Collaborators
Taxonomy
Common names
Synonyms
Morphology
Morphometrics
Pictures
References
References

Tools

Bio-Quiz | E-book | Field guide | Length-frequency wizard | Life-history tool | Point map | Catch-MSY |

Special reports

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Summary page | Point data | Common names | Photos

Internet sources

AFORO (otoliths) | Aquatic Commons | BHL | Cloffa | Websites from users | Check FishWatcher | CISTI | Catalog of Fishes: genus, species | DiscoverLife | ECOTOX | FAO - Fisheries: landings search; Publication: search | Faunafri | Fishipedia | Fishtrace | GloBI | Google Books | Google Scholar | Google | IGFA World Record | National databases | OneZoom | Open Tree of Life | Otolith Atlas of Taiwan Fishes | PubMed | Reef Life Survey | Socotra Atlas | TreeBase | Tree of Life | Wikipedia: Go, Search | World Records Freshwater Fishing | Zoological Record

Estimates based on models

Phylogenetic diversity index
(Ref. 82804) 		PD50 = 0.5000 [Uniqueness, from 0.5 = low to 2.0 = high].
Bayesian length-weight a=0.00759 (0.00620 - 0.00928), b=2.92 (2.88 - 2.96), in cm total length, based on LWR estimates for this species (Ref. 93245).
Trophic level
(Ref. 69278) 		4.0   ±0.51 se; based on food items.
Resilience
(Ref. 120179) 		Low, minimum population doubling time 4.5 - 14 years (K= 0.123; Tmax >8 yrs).
Fishing Vulnerability
(Ref. 59153) 		Moderate to high vulnerability (49 of 100). 🛈
Price category
(Ref. 80766) 		Medium.
Nutrients
(Ref. 124155) 		Calcium = 24.6 [10.3, 69.4] mg/100g; Iron = 0.664 [0.275, 1.476] mg/100g; Protein = 20.6 [18.5, 22.4] %; Omega3 = 0.212 [0.091, 0.512] g/100g; Selenium = 28.7 [11.1, 78.2] μg/100g; VitaminA = 3.9 [0.6, 26.7] μg/100g; Zinc = 0.282 [0.169, 0.509] mg/100g (wet weight);