KML: Great Barracuda

This week I saw the Great Barracuda at almost every snorkeling site, for example the mangroves, and many coral reefs. The ones I saw ranged in sizes from a foot long to about five feet long in length. When seeing them in the water  some were swimming around minding their own business, but other times they were just staying still in the water. I picked this species because when seeing them standing still, staring out into the open water it actually made me nervous to swim around them. I know that they are mainly harmless unless you are wearing anything shiny, but I was still nervous. I also chose this species because I wanted to learn more about their behavior.

The scientific name for the Great Barracuda is Sphyraena barracuda. Barracudas are usually solitary organisms but mainly during the night. They do travel in schools to find food and protect each other from predators but when I went to the multiple snorkel sites they did not travel in schools, I often saw one maybe two together. When they do attack their prey they will tear up their food more than actually eating it. Their attack method is a "sit and wait" approach. They will just be still in the water like I saw them do at the reefs, and just attack when their prey gets closer to them. Since they wait for their prey to come to them, the barracuda will have a fast burst of speed (27 mph) to out swim their prey. When my fellow classmate was snorkeling at Looe Key a barracuda was following her for a short amount of time, it was intimidating at the time but they tend to follow snorkelers because they think we are larger prey that will kill something and they will be able to get the scraps. 


Learning more about the barracudas' behavior makes me feel more comfortable with getting in the water with them. They are just trying to survive and if they are swimming around you in the water, to not be nervous, they are just waiting for you to prey on other organisms or they can just be curious about us like we are with them.


References: 
http://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Sphyraena_barracuda/#behavior
http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Barracuda#Behavior