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Watching barracuda...a Zen-like experience

Common reactions when I am called on to describe my research include looks filled with awe and great respect for my bravery, looks filled with awe and great pity for my incredible degree of stupidity, and questions like "Aren't they the ones that eat people?" I also perplex some people who wonder why I call my subject the great barracuda rather than simply the mediocre barracuda or the somewhat-below-average barracuda. These misconceptions are understandable given widespread tendency of the media, even today, to characterize the barracuda as a ruthless killer, indiscriminately preying on bathers and tourists. Descriptions of barracuda attacks in which writers conveniently forget to mention that the barracuda were hooked at the time, fighting for their lives, provide classic examples of the bias inherent in stories that seek to sensationalize rather than just report. Sharks are prone to the same bad PR, to the point where a sport fisherman who has hooked a shark and landed it becomes the victim of a shark attack when the dead shark's jaws clamp around the fisherman's wrist as he attempts to prop its mouth open for a photograph. It is my hope that, by reading this far, you have gained some appreciation and insight into the reality of one of the least-understood large fishes that commonly interacts with our own species.

To really appreciate this animal is to see it in the wild, through snorkeling or SCUBA diving. Even with the outrageous prices being asked for basic snorkeling gear today, the relatively small investment necessary for mask, snorkel, and fins will give you a lifetime of memories in return of a world to which curiosity is the price of admission and wonder is the reward. If you have access to an environment of coral reefs, so much the better. There is, however, always something to see in any inland or coastal water in the world. A further investment in good SCUBA gear will enable easily accessible exploration of a world that remains unsuspected by many even today.

The Florida Keys host the greatest numbers of skin- and SCUBA divers in the world each year, and coincide with prime barracuda habitat where great barracuda reach high densities. Snorkeling in shallow Florida Bay or off one of the Keys' few sandy beaches is almost guaranteed to offer a glimpse of the great barracuda. For a moderate fee (cheap by the standards of most other destinations) you can travel offshore by boat to the coral reefs on the Atlantic side of the Keys and dive on the Atlantic coral reefs and wrecks of the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, that are often thick with large barracuda.

Watching barracuda is truly an experience for the patient observer only, and often the barracuda behaves in such a manner that it is difficult to tell who is watching whom. An axiom in the type of research that I have been engaged in is that one will never see the act of predation if one is seeking it, a Zen truism validated by my experience with the great barracuda. Great barracuda, particularly adults, spend most of their time just 'hanging out,' loitering around the reef. If one is fortunate enough to witness its attack, though, the image of lazily drifting curiosity is quickly dispelled. The very speed and unpredictability of a barracuda's attack makes it hard to follow or anticipate — literally, if you blink, you will miss it. It is also difficult to tell whether the barracuda was successful in many cases because of the attack speed and the distance covered by the barracuda's onslaught.

One of the most obvious things to even the casual barracuda-watcher is that these fish have marked individual differences in behavior. Some barracuda interact with humans in an unnerving fashion. It is bad enough when a big great barracuda makes a close pass or follows too closely to your legs or back, but when the fish approaches closely head-on, it can be quite intimidating to anyone. If the great barracuda then displays its famous 'yawn,' showing all of its long, white teeth at once, even the most confident divers will feel a tremor of fear. In such a case, caution is warranted, as it is hard for us to know the difference between a threat display and some more innocent motivation. I have been yawned at many times by barracuda, often (it seems) in contempt for my presence, and I have never heard of a yawn preceding an attack or charge. Perhaps the most lasting impression from watching the great barracuda is that here is a predator that seems supremely confident in its position atop the food chain in its environment, an environment in which we are only occasional amusements or distractions.