Great Barracuda

Photo: Christian Amador Da Silva · © all rights reserved

Great barracuda school here in unusually large numbers, forming tornado-like aggregations of 200 or more fish that rotate slowly above the reef crest in a behaviour associated with spawning aggregation sites. Individual fish within the school can exceed 1.5 metres, and the collective mass of silver flanks catching the Caribbean light is one of the Caribbean's great visual spectacles. Their presence signals a healthy prey-fish ecosystem below — the barracuda track the same schooling jacks and grunts that inhabit the reef structure.