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Sphyraena argentea Girard, 1854

Pacific barracuda
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Sphyraena argentea   AquaMaps   Data sources: GBIF OBIS
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Image of Sphyraena argentea (Pacific barracuda)
Sphyraena argentea
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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: Girard.

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

Marine; pelagic-neritic; oceanodromous (Ref. 51243); depth range 0 - 18 m (Ref. 2850). Temperate; 58°N - 24°N, 155°W - 111°W

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

Eastern Pacific: Alaska to Magdalena Bay, Baja California. Not common north of Point Conception (Ref. 11484).

Size / Weight / Age

Maturity: Lm ?  range ? - ? cm
Max length : 145 cm FL male/unsexed; (Ref. 40637); max. published weight: 12.0 kg (Ref. 40637); max. reported age: 12 years (Ref. 56049)

Short description Identification keys | Morphology | Morphometrics

Dorsal spines (total): 6; Dorsal soft rays (total): 9 - 10; Anal spines: 1; Anal soft rays: 8 - 9. Color bluish or brownish dorsally, silvery ventrally (Ref. 6885).

Biology     Glossary (e.g. epibenthic)

Usually near shore or near the surface (Ref. 2850). Often in small schools (Ref. 2850). Young enter bays (Ref. 2850). Feed mainly on other fishes (Ref. 2850). Pelagic spawners (Ref. 56049). Migrate south from the California coast during autumn, but may remain in front of the Mexican coast throughout the year (Ref. 9345). Utilized fresh, dried or salted and frozen; eaten broiled and baked (Ref. 9988). Considered as potentially dangerous due to its large, sharp teeth and aggressive disposition, though there are no reports of attacks (Ref. 9988).

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

Pelagic spawner (Ref. 56049).

Main reference Upload your references | References | Coordinator | Collaborators

Eschmeyer, W.N., E.S. Herald and H. Hammann, 1983. A field guide to Pacific coast fishes of North America. Boston (MA, USA): Houghton Mifflin Company. xii+336 p. (Ref. 2850)

IUCN Red List Status (Ref. 130435: Version 2024-1)

  Least Concern (LC) ; Date assessed: 02 May 2008

CITES

Not Evaluated

CMS (Ref. 116361)

Not Evaluated

Threat to humans

  Traumatogenic (Ref. 13513)





Human uses

Fisheries: commercial; gamefish: yes
FAO - Publication: search | FishSource |

More information

Trophic ecology
Food items
Diet composition
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Ecology
Ecology
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Length-weight rel.
Length-length rel.
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Maturity/Gills rel.
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References

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Summary page | Point data | Common names | Photos

Internet sources

AFORO (otoliths) | Aquatic Commons | BHL | Cloffa | BOLDSystems | Websites from users | Check FishWatcher | CISTI | Catalog of Fishes: genus, species | DiscoverLife | ECOTOX | FAO - Publication: search | Faunafri | Fishipedia | Fishtrace | GenBank: genome, nucleotide | GloBI | Google Books | Google Scholar | Google | IGFA World Record | MitoFish | Otolith Atlas of Taiwan Fishes | PubMed | Reef Life Survey | RFE Identification | Socotra Atlas | Tree of Life | Wikipedia: Go, Search | World Records Freshwater Fishing | Zoobank | Zoological Record

Estimates based on models

Preferred temperature (Ref. 123201): 8.9 - 23.1, mean 12.4 °C (based on 212 cells).
Phylogenetic diversity index (Ref. 82804):  PD50 = 0.5000   [Uniqueness, from 0.5 = low to 2.0 = high].
Bayesian length-weight: a=0.00708 (0.00329 - 0.01525), b=2.92 (2.75 - 3.09), in cm total length, based on LWR estimates for this Genus-body shape (Ref. 93245).
Trophic level (Ref. 69278):  4.5   ±0.80 se; based on food items.
Generation time: 7.9 ( na - na) years. Estimated as median ln(3)/K based on 1 growth studies.
Resilience (Ref. 120179):  Medium, minimum population doubling time 1.4 - 4.4 years (K=0.14; tm=2-3; tmax=12; Fec=42,000).
Fishing Vulnerability (Ref. 59153):  High to very high vulnerability (69 of 100).
Price category (Ref. 80766):   Medium.