Sphyraena argentea
Pacific Barracuda
Collection Details
Specimens
Photos
There are no photos available for this taxon yet.
Records
Taxonomic Hierarchy
Actinopterygii (Ray-finned Fishes)
Perciformes (Perciformes, Also Called the Acanthopteri)
Sphyraenidae (Barracudas)
Sphyraena
Sphyraena argentea (Pacific Barracuda)
Description
This species account was compiled from
FishBase (Froese, R. and D. Pauly. Editors. 2025. FishBase. World Wide Web electronic publication. www.fishbase.org, version 04/2025.)
and processed using AI-assisted text extraction.
It may contain errors in spelling, punctuation, or formatting.
When citing, please reference the original source rather than this page.
Learn more about our species accounts.
Characters
Body shape: elongated. Color bluish or brownish dorsally, silvery ventrally (Ref. 6885).
Distribution
Eastern Pacific: Alaska to Magdalena Bay, Baja California. Not common north of Point Conception (Ref. 11484).
Habitat Associations
Marine. pelagic-neritic. depth range 0-18 m.
Biology
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).
Max length: 145.0 cm FL; max weight: 12020 g; max age: 12 years.
Reproductive mode: dioecism; fertilization: external; nonguarders (open water/substratum egg scatterers); parental care: none. Pelagic spawner (Ref. 56049).
IUCN Red List Status: Least Concern (LC), assessed 2008-05-02. Resilience: Medium (K=0.14; tm=2-3; tmax=12; Fec=42,000).
Commercial or Environmental Importance
Fisheries: commercial; gamefish.
References
Breder, C.M. and D.E. Rosen (1966) Modes of reproduction in fishes. T.F.H. Publications, Neptune City, New Jersey. 941 p.
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.
Hart, J.L. (1973) Pacific fishes of Canada. Bull. Fish. Res. Board Can. 180:740 p.
IGFA (2001) Database of IGFA angling records until 2001. IGFA, Fort Lauderdale, USA.
Patzner, R.A. (2008) Reproductive strategies of fish. pp. 311-350. In Rocha, M.J., A. Arukwe and B.G. Kapoor (eds). Fish reproduction: cytology, biology and ecology. Science Publisher, Inc. Oxford. 631 p.
Comments On Sphyraena argentea