Key West; Key West Fishing - A Sportfishing Guide to Key West and The
Florida Keys - Key-West-Fishing.com
Barracuda
Family:
Barracuda
Similar Fish:
Great Barracuda
Habitat:
INSHORE - Barracudas can be found along rocky headlands,
inshore reefs, wrecks, estuaries, creeks, beaches and jetty pylons with an
attraction to weedbeds. They prefer areas such as large sandflats, shallow
rock, shallow reef or dry sandbanks, with adjacent weedbed areas which they
use to bottle up and concentrate baitfish populations..
Size:
Up to 80lb.
Description:
A ferocious fighter and an excellent gamefish, the great
barracuda is considered potentially dangerous because of its tendency to
strike at flashing objects (which it mistakes for fish) and its ability to
inflict serious harm, in or out of water, through its prodigious teeth. The
great barracuda has been known to attack waders, swimmers, and divers, but
such incidents are uncommon. It is also a dangerous fish to eat, because it
leads a list of marine fishes that cause ciguatera when eaten, although
small fish are apparently not poisonous. Not every barracuda causes
ciguatera, but there is no safe or reliable way of recognizing toxic fish.