Great Barracuda

Family Sphyraenidae

Description: gray, with a greenish cast above, whitish below; many irregular, small black blotches on lower side; 18 to 22 diagonal dark bars on upper side (not always evident); caudal fin dark with white tips; 75 to 87 lateral line scales; no fleshy tip on jaw

Young: dark stripe on side; stripe breaks into dark squarish blotches as fish grows

Size: to 2 meters (6 feet) and 48 kilograms (106 pounds); reports of larger fish unverified

Where found: young live in inshore seagrass beds; adults range from inshore channels to open ocean

Remarks: most attacks on people have occurred when they were wading or swimming in turbid water while wearing bright objects, attempting to spear a barracuda, or carrying speared fish; flesh of smaller fish apparently not poisonous, but larger fish sometimes very toxic due to ciguatera; no safe, reliable way of recognizing toxic fish

Grass Porgy

Family Sparidae

Description: pale tan to silvery; dark olive above; dark bar across nape extends through eye to corner of mouth; dark blotches on body, in about 5 vertical and 4 horizontal series, suggesting interrupted bars and stripes; blotch near front of lateral line most proiminent; dark V at base of caudal fin; lobes of caudal fin with dark bars

Size: to 25 centimeters (10 inches)

Where found: inshore seagrass beds

Gag

Family Serranidae, SEA BASSES AND GROUPER Mycteroperca microlepis

Description: brownish gray in color with dark worm-like markings on sides; strong serrated spur at bottom margin of preopercle, less noticeable in large specimens; fins dark, with anal and caudal having white margin. Often confused with black grouper; tail of gag is slightly concave, black is square; gag has white margin on anal and caudal fins, black does not; under 10 pounds, gag's spur on preopercle is distinctive, where black is gently rounded.

Similar Fish: black grouper M. bonaci.

Where found: adults OFFSHORE over rocks and reefs; juveniles occur in seagrass beds INSHORE.

Size: common to 25 pounds.


*Florida Record: 71 lbs., 3 ozs.

Remarks: forms spawning aggregations in water no shallower than 120 feet in Middle Grounds area, January through March; current reseach to identify similar aggregations off Atlantic coast is ongoing. Young gags are predominantly female, transforming into males as they grow larger; feeds on fish and squid.

* The Florida records quoted are from the Department of Environmental Protection's printed publication, Fishing Lines and are not necessarily the most current ones. The records are provided as only as a benchmark.

Silver Perch

Family Sciaenidae, DRUMS Bairdiella chrysoura

Description: color silvery with yellowish fins; no spots; no chin barbels; no prominent canine teeth at tip of upper jaw; preopercle finely serrated; 5 to 6 chin pores; mouth terminal.

Similar Fish: sand seatrout, Cynoscion arenarius (the seatrouts usually have 1 or 2 prominent canine teeth at tip of upper jaw and do not have chin pores).

Where found: INSHORE in seagrass beds, tidal creeks and rivers, and marshes.

Size: small, not exceeding 9 inches.

*Florida Record: n/a

Remarks: spawning takes place in shallow, saline portions of bays and other INSHORE areas, peaking between May and September; matures by second or third year (by 6 inches); adults eat crustaceans and small fishes; may live to 6 years.

*The Florida records quoted are from the Department of Environmental Protection's printed publication, Fishing Lines and are not necessarily the most current ones. The records are provided as only as a benchmark.