Sphyraena viridensis, known as the Yellowmouth Barracuda
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A barracuda was landed at Newlyn Fish Market yesterday morning (26th
November 2001), which had been netted by the F.V. Regina Maris 6 miles off
the Lizard, Cornwall, U.K. The exact position, date of capture and gear are

not yet known, but it is thought that this was a bottom set net, probably
fishing for Pollack.
This is the first record of a barracuda in British waters. Dr Paul Gainey
has examined and photographed the fish and I was sent photos by the Western

Morning News. (Apparently there have also been pictures in the Times and
there will be an illustrated report by Phil Lockley in this week's Fishing
News.) We are both certain that it is a barracuda and Alwynne Wheeler
accepts this. The data I have is that the fish is 106 cm (total length) and

4.2 kg (gutted, so probably an ungutted weight of over 4.5 kg).
Of the three species found in the North East Atlantic and Meditterranean
only Sphyraena sphyraena extends north to the Atlantic coast of the Iberian

Peninsula and southern Bay of Biscay, also neither of the other species
exceeds 65 cm TL.
This specimen appears to be a European Barracuda Sphyraena sphyraena on
the basis of the size, elongated body shape, fully-scaled preoperculum,
dark
elongated head (like a rocket's nose cone with the upper jaw fitting neatly

into a prognathous lower one) and approximately twenty dark vertical half
bars along its body. It does not have the pale tips to the lobes of the
tail
nor the black blotches on the belly and lower flanks which are diagnostic
of
Sphyraena barracuda.
The fish, which was bought for £16 by John Strike, is at present on display

in ice at the Quayside Fish Centre in Porthleven, Cornwall, and will be
frozen and sent up to the Natural History Museum in London.
The European Barracuda Sphyraena sphyraena, is sometimes called a Great
Barracuda but this name should kept for the Caribbean/West Atlantic
Sphyraena barracuda. The European Barracuda can grow to 160 cm and 38 kg.
(The record for Sphyraena barracuda is 200cm and 50 kg.)
A single unusual fish like this is not a sign of global warming, but it
may fit into a pattern when correlated with numbers of fish records as we
are starting to do at the National Marine Aquarium.
regards, Doug Herdson
Douglas Herdson
Information Officer
National Marine Aquarium
Rope Walk
Coxside
Plymouth PL4 0LF
UK

Telephone: (+44)01752 275216/01752 600301
Fax: (+44)01752 275217
Email: Douglas.Herdson@national-aquarium.co.uk



                                 CORRECTION
                                 "On the 25th November 2001 the crew of
F.V. Regina Maris, skipper
                                 David Kessel, was fishing for hake with a
monofilament set net when
                                 they netted a Barracuda.  They were
fishing 8.5 miles south east of the
                                 Lizard, Cornwall. The fish was sent to
Newlyn Fish Market where it was
                                 bought for £16 by John Strike of the
Quayside Fish Centre in Porthleven,
                                 Cornwall.

                                                             The fish is
106 cm (total length) and
                                                             4.2 kg
(gutted, so probably an
                                                             ungutted
weight of over 4.5 kg), and is
                                                             the first
record of a Barracuda in
                                                             British
waters."

                                                             I initially
identified this fish from
                                                             photographs as
Sphyraena sphyraena.
                                                             However it has
now been examined
                                                             in detail and
I was incorrect.

                                                             When this
specimen was examined at
                                                             the Natural
History Museum by Oliver
                                                             Crimmen it was
found that the edge
                                                             of the
operculum was naked (not
                                                             covered in
scales as it is in).  This,
                                                             along with a
few other features,
                                                             showed the
specimen to be
                                 Sphyraena viridensis, known as the
Yellowmouth Barracuda.

                                 I am afraid I was misled by the size of
the specimen, as the FAO guide
                                 to the Mediterranean (1987), the UNESCO
Fishes of North-eastern Atlantic
                                 and Mediterranean (1986) and Miller and
Loates (1997) all given the
                                 maximum size of Sphyraena viridensis as 65
cm (probably standard
                                 length) and this specimen was 106 cm
(total length).  However FishBase
                                 does give Sphyraena viridensis as reaching
128 cm (fork length).
                                 FishBase does also say that the
distribution of Sphyraena viridensis is
                                 uncertain as it is frequently
misidentified as Sphyraena sphyraena.

                                           Report from Doug Herdson
(National Marine Aquarium, Plymouth)