Sphyraena viridensis, known as the Yellowmouth Barracuda ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 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)