Sphyraena guachancho
Guaguanche
NS
G5
Collection Details
Specimens
Photos
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Records
Taxonomic Hierarchy
Actinopterygii (Ray-finned Fishes)
Perciformes (Perciformes, Also Called the Acanthopteri)
Sphyraenidae (Barracudas)
Sphyraena
Sphyraena guachancho (Guaguanche)
Description
This species account was compiled from
Composite (multiple sources) (McEachran, J.D. and J.D. Fechhelm. Fishes of the Gulf of Mexico. University of Texas Press, Austin.)
and processed using AI-assisted text extraction.
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Characters
Lower jaw teeth directed backwardly; snout long and moderately pointed, lacking fleshy knob; interorbital region convex; maxilla extends to margin of eye in adults; upper jaw with large, compressed canines on side of symphysis and band of small, compressed teeth along margin; lower jaw with large, compressed canines on side of symphysis and band of large, posteriorly directed canines along margin; palatine with row of large, compressed canine teeth; gill rakers on first arch consist of small spines; measurements (% SL): head length 29%–34%, snout length 12%–15%, eye diameter 5%–6%, upper jaw length 11%–16%, pectoral fin length 9%–12%, body depth 10%–14%; pectoral fin with 11 or 12 rays; first dorsal fin originates above to slightly posterior to pelvic fin base; second dorsal fin originates anterior to anal fin origin with one spine and 9 or 10 rays; anal fin with one or two spines and 7 to 9 rays; caudal fin with 17 principal rays and 10 procurrent dorsal and 9 procurrent ventral rays; small cycloid scales cover sides of head and body; lateral line scales number 108 to 114
Lacks inky blotches on side
Distribution
From Massachusetts to Brazil, including the entire Gulf of Mexico, the Bahamas, and the Antilles
Habitat Associations
Tropical to warm temperate seas over continental and insular shelves; depth range not specified
Turbid coastal waters over muddy bottoms, including bays and estuaries; absent from coral reefs
Biology
Food consists of shrimps and small ray-finned fishes
Maximum known size is 60 cm SL
Spawning occurs in summer on the continental shelf
Occurs in shallow and generally turbid coastal water over muddy bottoms, often around river estuaries. Schooling species (Ref. 6949). Occasionally enters estuaries and brackish waters (Ref. 57401). Feeds on mainly on fishes belonging to the Engraulidae, Clupeidae, Lutjanidae and Synodontidae families and also on squid from the Loliginidae family (Ref. 9626). Maximum reported size: 71cm (Ref. 57401). Marketed fresh and salted.
IUCN Red List Status: Least Concern (LC), assessed 2013-01-29. Resilience: Very low (Preliminary K or Fecundity.).
Commercial or Environmental Importance
Fisheries: commercial.
References
Böhlke and Chaplin 1968
Matsuura 1983k
de Sylva 1984
Randall 1996
Schaldach et al. 1997
Smith 1997
Ditty et al. 1999
Castro-Aguirre et al. 1999
Russell 2002
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.
Robins, C.R. and G.C. Ray (1986) A field guide to Atlantic coast fishes of North America. Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, U.S.A. 354 p.
Uyeno, T., K. Matsuura and E. Fujii (eds.) (1983) Fishes trawled off Suriname and French Guiana. Japan Marine Fishery Resource Research Center, Tokyo, Japan. 519 p.
Sierra, L.M., R. Claro and O.A. Popova (1994) Alimentacion y relaciones tróficas. p. 263-284. In Rodolfo Claro (ed.) Ecología de los Peces Marinos de Cuba. Instituto de Oceanología Academia de Ciencias de Cuba and Centro de Investigaciones de Quintana Roo, Mexico.
Sanches, J.G. (1991) Catálogo dos principais peixes marinhos da República de Guiné-Bissau. Publ. Avuls. Inst. Nac. Invest. Pescas 16:429 p.
Reiner, F. (1996) Catálogo dos peixes do arquipélago de Cabo Verde. Publ. Avuls. Inst. Port. Invest. Mar. 2:339 p.
Daget, J. (2003) Sphyraenidae. p. 612-615 In C. Lévêque, D. Paugy and G.G. Teugels (eds.) Faune des poissons d'eaux douce et saumâtres de l'Afrique de l'Ouest, Tome 2. Coll. Faune et Flore tropicales 40. Musée Royal de l'Afrique Centrale, Tervuren, Belgique, Museum National d'Histoire Naturalle, Paris, France and Institut de Recherche pour le Développement, Paris, France. 815 p.
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.
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