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Striped Barracuda

Striped Barracuda

Sphyraena Obtusata

Quick Facts

Scientific nameSphyraena Obtusata

Other namesDingo Fish, Obtuse Barracuda, Pike, Sennit, Short Finned Sea Pike, Short Jawed Sea-pike, Striped Sea Pike, Yellowstripe Barracuda, Yellowtail Barracuda, Yellowtail Sennit

SizeUp to 55 cm (21.65 in)

WeightUp to 1 kg (2.2 lb)

FamilyBarracuda / Sphyraenidae

Distribution

Habitat & AU DistributionBays, estuaries, seagrass beds, coastal & outer reefs

The Striped Barracuda is a slender, sharp-nosed fish that usually grows to about 30 cm long, though some reach up to 55 cm. It is smaller than most of its barracuda relatives, but it has the same streamlined build made for speed.
In Australia, it turns up right around the tropical north, from north-western Western Australia across to Queensland. It also reaches down the east coast as far as the Sydney region.
Beyond Australia, the Striped Barracuda ranges broadly across the warm Indo-Pacific, from the Red Sea and East Africa all the way to Samoa and north to Japan. It has even made its way into the eastern Mediterranean, moving through the Suez Canal from the Red Sea.
This is a fish that likes sheltered coastal water. It is found in bays, estuaries, seagrass beds and around rocky reefs, often moving between habitats as conditions change.
Striped Barracudas are active by day. Like most barracudas, they are built to hunt, and they spend daylight hours on the move.
It is a fast and aggressive hunter that feeds mainly on small fish. When it finds prey, it moves fast and hits hard.
This species travels in schools, gathering in groups rather than hunting alone. Schooling likely offers some protection as well as making it easier to herd prey.
The Striped Barracuda is greenish on top and silvery underneath, with two faint stripes running along its sides. Some individuals also have a yellow band along the flank and a yellow tail fin, which is where the name “Yellowtail Barracuda” comes from.
One feature that helps tell this species apart from similar barracudas is the position of its first dorsal fin. It sits directly above the tip of the pectoral fin, rather than set well behind it as in many relatives.
Its body is also shorter and more compact than most barracudas, giving it a slightly different silhouette in the water. That stockier build sets it apart if you see it alongside a larger species.
Identifying this species with confidence can be tricky. It looks very similar to a closely related barracuda, and telling the two apart has been a challenge even for researchers in Australian waters.
There is still plenty to learn about the Striped Barracuda in Australia. Detailed information on its breeding, lifespan and movements remains limited compared with better-studied fish along the same coastline.

Species Interaction

Striped Barracuda: A Coastal School Worth Watching

Recreational Fishing
Commercial Harvest
Snorkelling & Diving
Ecosystem Role

Striped Barracuda are caught by recreational anglers across tropical and subtropical Australia, appearing in boat-based fishing surveys from Western Australia to New South Wales. They also turn up as bycatch in northern commercial fisheries, including the Northern Prawn Fishery. For divers and snorkellers, schools aggregating around reef bommies and rocky shores make them a reliable and photogenic encounter, particularly around the Great Barrier Reef.

Species
Sustainability

Scientific Classification

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Teleostei
Order: Carangaria incertae sedis
Family: Sphyraenidae
Genus: Sphyraena
Species: Sphyraena obtusata

Conservation Status

The Striped Barracuda has not been assessed by the IUCN Red List, and it carries no listing under Australia’s EPBC Act. It is a relatively small, schooling coastal species found across tropical and temperate Australian waters, but no formal stock assessment or conservation evaluation is available for it at this time.