Barracuda
Barracuda (Sphyraena barracuda) is a saltwater species. The first thing to check: two short dorsal fins set widely apart, with a long gap of bare back between them. The look-alike to rule out is Wahoo: wahoo have one long, low, continuous first dorsal fin, vivid blue vertical bars, and a beak-like snout with even razor teeth rather than uneven fangs.
Last updated
| Scientific name | Sphyraena barracuda |
|---|---|
| Also called | great barracuda, cuda |
| Water | Saltwater |
| Group | Barracuda |
| Temperature | Common between 74 and 86 °F. |
How to identify a Barracuda
- Two short dorsal fins set widely apart, with a long gap of bare back between them.
- A jutting lower jaw carrying large, uneven, obviously visible fangs.
- Scattered irregular black blotches low on the rear flank, on an otherwise silver body.
If you would rather not work through a key on a wet deck, photograph the fish and let the app name it — you get the common and the scientific name back, and the record is filed before you release.
Fish it is mistaken for
| Species | How to tell them apart |
|---|---|
| Wahoo | Wahoo have one long, low, continuous first dorsal fin, vivid blue vertical bars, and a beak-like snout with even razor teeth rather than uneven fangs. |
| Needlefish | Needlefish are far thinner, with both jaws drawn out into a long thin beak and no dark flank blotches. |
Side-by-side comparisons
Read the full entry for Wahoo and Needlefish.
Where it lives
Tropical and subtropical Atlantic — reefs, wrecks, channel edges, flats and around any floating structure. Often hangs motionless in mid-water, which is how most anglers first spot one.
Temperature
Common between 74 and 86 °F.
The conditions that matter
Barracuda hunt entirely by sight, so water clarity is the controlling variable and a dirty day is a poor one. On the flats in winter they move onto shallow warm sand on the afternoon of a cold snap, which is one of the few genuinely predictable sight fisheries anywhere.
Global Fishing League records 18 weather and water readings against every catch automatically — tide stage, barometric pressure, water temperature, salinity, dissolved oxygen, chlorophyll, swell, current, moon phase and more, taken at your GPS position at the moment you log the fish. Over a season that turns a hunch about barracuda into a pattern you can read.
See every reading recorded with a catch, or the guides to what each reading means.
Size limits, bag limits and seasons
Size limits, bag limits, slot limits and seasons are set by your state wildlife agency — and for many offshore and migratory species by federal regulators — and on many waters they differ from the statewide rule. They also change between seasons. Check the current regulations for the exact water you are fishing before you keep a fish — we do not republish limits here, because a number that is a season out of date is worse than no number.
What the app does do is make your side of it accurate: every catch carries a length measured from the photograph, a GPS position and a timestamp, exportable if you ever need to show your work for a tournament or a record claim. It is also what a Global Fishing League entry is built from — a record that verifies itself, without publishing where you caught the fish.