Marine life profile
Barracuda
Recorded at 3075 dive sitesWhere divers encounter it
Explore Barracuda around the world
A barracuda is a large, predatory, ray-finned, saltwater fish of the genus Sphyraena, the only genus in the family Sphyraenidae, which was named by Constantine Samuel Rafinesque in 1815. It follows a daily rhythm of feeding, sheltering and interacting with rivals, partners or a larger school.
Meet the species
What to look for
How to Recognize It
Use body shape, fin outline, color pattern and swimming style to separate it from the surrounding reef community.
How It Behaves
It follows a daily rhythm of feeding, sheltering and interacting with rivals, partners or a larger school.
Special Ability
Precise fins and a body shaped for its niche let it turn, hover or accelerate exactly where food and shelter demand.
Dive responsibly
Share the water well
How to Approach
Move slowly at the same depth, avoid swimming directly at it and let the fish resume its normal behavior.
Safety
Usually safe to observe at a respectful distance. Never feed, corner or touch a fish, especially near nests or cleaning stations.
Worth knowing
The detail you remember
Interesting Facts
It is found in tropical and subtropical oceans worldwide ranging from the eastern border of the Atlantic Ocean to the Red Sea, on its western border the Caribbean Sea, and in tropical areas of the Pacific Ocean.
Where to Find
Look around coral structure, rocky reef, wrecks and current lines where shelter and food meet.
Known countries
Sightings map
Barracuda locations
Plan a dive
Dive sites with reported encounters
18th Palm
Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba
House reef of Plaza Beach & Dive Resort and Toucan Diving!
Deep/multilevel dive. 90 ft maximum depth. Decent line. Scuttled in October of 2000, this WWII era US Navy gun ship is now fully encrusted in coral growth. Home to sting rays, eels and barracuda. When in season, spotted eagle rays can be seen flying over the wreck. Schools of bait fish and their predators can often be seen.
Confetti Bay
Mauritius
A firm favourite in the North, a shallow dive site with a slight drop off to a max of 30 m. An ideal training site for PADI Open Water Divers, or a PADI Search and Recovery Specialty, Fish ID, Naturalist or PADI Advanced Open Water Course! So many schools of fish to swim with and enjoy stunning visibility and beautiful colour. Great for macro.
Escambron Marine Park (La poza del Escambron)
Puerto Rico
A shallow dive site with quick and easy access. If staying in the San Juan Area makes for a perfect refresher or beginner location because of the wave breaker which allows for diving all year round.
Playa del Cabrón
Spain
This is a fun dive to 12m maximum, beginning with an easy walk from the beach; we then follow the reef out towards the headland, which forms the natural shelter for the bay. As conditions here are invariably calm this makes it the perfect site for beginners or trainees, and those of you who have been out of the water for some time. Yet many experienced divers and underwater photographers also enjoy the bay because of the diversity of life and excellent light conditions There is a wide range of sea-life ranging from the ever present shoals of atlantic and blue-fin damselfish, bream, parrotfish, wrasse, lizardfish and pufferfish. More diligent searching will reward the diver with clams, razorfish, juvenile barracudas, trumpetfish, wide-eyed flounders, common stingrays, octopus, as well as cuttleFish and many other species. In spring many predators enter the bay at night to feed on the spawning fish. Some stay during the day giving close-ups of stingrays, anglesharks, barracuda and weaver fish
St George
Dominican Republic
This ship was built in 1962 in Scotland. This transatlantic cargo freighter, which transported wheat and barley between Norway and the Americas, was abandoned in Santo Domingo harbor after 20 years of service. Renamed after taking the full brunt of Hurricane George, St. George was bought by Club Dominicus and sunk on June 12, 1999. For more advanced divers, St George is a very impressive deep wreck with lots to see from encrusting coral and sponge to queen angelfish and barracuda. Great for advanced and specialty courses, this site provides not only a perfect recreational site but also the opportunity to develop your diver skills in many ways.
St. Didier Wreck
Turkey
St Didier has been sunked by an English aeroplane in 4th of July 1941 durin WW2. The ship whose real name was "Saint Didier", is lying right under the buoy which is an untired guard of the Antalya yatch harbour, 1 km away from there. With her bow looking to south and stern looking to the north, she is lying between 18 and 34 meters with an 35 degrees angle to the starport side. Her length is around 70 meters. In the studies done between 1946 and 1974 , they salvaged the skeletons and a lot of the ship's cargo. There is nothing much left as an artifact in the wreck becase of the later dives where everyone took some part of the wreck as a souvenier. But still she is getting the interest of the wreck divers.
Atlantic Princess
Dominican Republic
Get excited to experience something special. Atlantic Princess is a perfect wreck for both beginners and experienced divers. Full of marine life, this wreck provides lots of nooks and crannies for a great abundance of life from anemone as well as soft and hard coral, encrusting the boat, parrot fish, Sargent majors, lobster, many species of crab, barracuda, frog fish, lionfish (perfect for hunting on request) and that is just scratching the surface on what you can see here! Not only is it full of life, the wreck itself is something magnificent to see. There may be areas of this site, if not the entire site, that require additional training and experience beyond simply being a certified diver, for you to safely visit. This may include, but not be limited to, training and experience in deep diving, wreck diving, cavern/cave diving, or even technical diving. Always remember to dive within the limitations of your training and experience.
Boonsung Wreck
Thailand
Tin mining platform with so much life. This site is just full of snapper, trevally, porcupine pufferfish, batfish, juvenile barracuda, lionfish, honeycomb moray eels, occasional cuttlefish, and even occasional whalesharks!
Bouy Line
Panama
There is a beautiful sunken Trimaran next to a reef with healthy corals and sponges. You can see nurse sharks, rays, moray eels and the most varied reef fish.
The C-53 is a 184 ft long Mexican Navy Minesweeper that was sunk in June 2000. It lies on a sandy bottom at 80’. Huge hole have been cut into the ships sides and interior to allow divers to enter and exit safely. Inside the ship there are Lobster, Crab, Eels, Schools of Glassy Sweepers and Sardines. Outside there are often Barracudas and Grouper. While diving the C-53 keep a look out for the Atlantis Submarine making a visit.
Our house reef. Ideal for Discover Scuba Diving experiences, Open Water courses training, night dives and Scuba Reviews. Also ideal for certified divers who want to have a look at our resident seahorses or just dive with their buddy. The equipment can be easily brought up and down thanks to our lift. Average Depth: 5 meters Marine life: seahorses, octupus, cuttlefish, scorpion fish, flounders, barracuda.......
Carlisle Bay
Barbados
We consider ourselves very lucky to have the most amazing dive site and marine protected area in our backyard. This shallow site hosts more than 7 different shipwrecks ranging from 5m to 15m, most of which you can see on a single dive.
Casa Blanca
Mexico
This is a gorgeous reef named after Casa Gordon, a beachfront house which used to white. The reef very similar in composition and marine life to Paso del Cedral, with a constant drift which helps travel over the reef. A favorite of Cozumel's repeat divers, this dive site is often thriving with sharks, green morays and turtles.
Clement's Reef
Malaysia
Located North to North West of Gaya Island, slopping bottom with diverse hard coral and soft coral
Cow Rock
United States
Cow Rock, often mentioned with its counterpart Calf Rock, is one of the most popular sites on the South side. Consisting of a rocky bottom topography that is covered in colorful growth, these natural formations create several swim through’s that attract many divers. In addition, this site and others in the area fall within the protected waters of a marine preserve. An abundance of fish, turtles, lobsters, rays, and sharks can be seen here.
Djabeda Wreck
Republic of Mauritius
One of the most spectacular dive sites in the North of the island. The Djabeda Wreck is a 44 metre long, 10-metre high Japanese fishing boat. It's become a beautiful artificial wreck with soft and hard corals, and areas of dislodged debris with loads of life. Schooling fish, barracudas, stone fish, lion fish, tuna and rays can be seen in the sand. We can swim off the Djabeda on to Confetti Bay at Coin De Mire island to finish off the dive. An ideal place to start your PADI Deep Diver Specialty or your PADI Wreck Specialty with us. Best enjoyed on Nitrox!
Earl of Shaftesbury
Sri Lanka
One of our oldest wrecks this ship dates from the 1820s, a steel 4 mast sailing ship it sank ollowing a fire on board. It is lying on a sandy bottom, very interesting wreck. You can see some special native sweetlips and stingrays, groups of silver batfish and schools of Fosters barracuda.
Gabr el Bint
Egypt
Gabr el Bint ranks among one of the most attractive sites of North Sinai. With the access by boat, 4x4 or by camel, it is less frequently dived than the other dive sites in Dahab which has left this site in pristine condition. Gabr el Bint means 'The Grave of the Girl' in Arabic. There are two dives possible here. The ledge is riddled with exquisite coral heads that attract numerous reef species, including swarms of anthias, scorpionfish, parrotfish, crocodilefish, surgeonfish, triggerfish, trumpetfish, stingrays and very often a turtle. At the end of the ledge usually is home to a shoal of black and white snappers and twinspot snappers hang here between 5m and 10m. One of the truly breathtaking dives in Dahab.
HTMS Chang wreck
Thailand
HTMS Chang Shipwreck On the 22nd of November 2012 the HTMS Chang has been sunk. The wreck quickly turned into a great artificial reef thriving with marine life, shells, coral, gorgonians... It is truly a spectacular wreck dive, the bottom is on 30m, the topdeck on 20m, captain's cabin and mast on 12 meter and reaches close to the surface around 5 meters. The ship is 100m long, making it the biggest shipwreck in Thailand. Many fish have taken refuge at the Chang, batfish, filefish, scorpionfish, barracuda, giant groupers, squid and octopus, shrimpfish,... we get regular visits of whaleshark to spoil our divers and snorkelers, there is a very interesting diversity of marine life. The HTMS Chang is lying close to Koh Chang, about half hour out by wooden boat, so it is perfect to combine with either Hin Luk Bath or Hin Raab.
ILLA DE SES ÀGUILES
Spain
Inmersión para todos los niveles de buceo donde podremos ver grandes bancos de barracudas, meros, pulpos, nudibranquios y mucha vida pequeña.
Johnny's Gorge
India
Johnny's Gorge is a bed of low-lying rocky outcrops emerging from the bottom at 26metres / 85 feet. Surrounded by sand in every direction, these rocks have become an oasis of security and food for everything from small angelfish and anemonefish to spectacular schools of mackerels, barracudas, trevallies, bumphead parrotfish, surgeonfish, and snappers. And if this isn't enough, this world-class dive site is also home to reef sharks, giant groupers, large stingrays, and visiting manta and eagle rays. There is very rarely a quiet moment at Johnny's Gorge.
Kandooma Thila
Maldives
Kandooma Thila, or also called Cocoa Thila, is one of the most exciting dives in South Male’ Atoll with great scenery as well as prolific fish life. The west and north side are the most spectacular, with the top at 16m. These are a focal point for schools of Bluefin Trevallies, eagle rays, dogtooth tunas and loose groups of gray reef sharks (50+ in the right current). Cleaning station for grey reef , you can see them going in a vertical position while small wrasses are cleaning them. Currents can be very strong making it a challenging dive. For experienced divers only.
Kirala Gala
Sri Lanka
Amazing deep dive. Dive starts at bottom of large conical rock formation and spirals around to the top. For advanced divers there are plenty of reef fishes, soft corals, groups of trigger fish,barracudas, travellys and groups of batfish to be found.