Barracuda

“ Again, in the tropics wholesome fish soon become virulently poisonous if kept too long, as the fierce heat favors rapid decomposition. In this short article I have only space for a description of the most common and injurious fishes met with in the West [Pg 682] Indies. One of the commonest fish in these seas is the barracuda (Sphyræna barracuda) , which can be easily recognized by its elongated body, covered with cycloid scales. The color is dark olive-green on the back, fading to a lighter green on the sides, while its under surface is silvery white. ”

“ In the 40 RD surveys on Saba Bank, we recorded 63 mid- to large sized groupers, carangids, barracudas and/or (nurse) sharks. The abundance of some predatory fishes stems from the fact that they are not targeted by the commercial fishery. For example, the great barracuda, Sphyraena barracuda, is a large piscivore that is generally not harvested by commercial fishermen because of concerns about ciguatera poisoning. Barracuda were common in visual surveys (>50% of surveys) and observed in all habitat types. ”

“ Fully restored to his ordinary physical vigor, he joined a swimming party on the afternoon following his arrival in Frederiksted. There had been rumors of sharks, but his hosts hastened to reassure their guests. No! Sharks were virtually negligible, anyhow. Sharks were cowardly creatures, easily frightened away from any group of swimmers. If it were a barracuda, now—that would be quite another matter. Over in Porto Rico, so report had it, there had been a case of a barracuda attacking an American school-teacher. ”

“ In the Philippines, as in other civilized countries, there are not lacking narrators of good “fish stories.” From Filipino residents of San Juan, Siquijor, I recently heard a tale of a barracuda which towed a native dugout boat all day, jumping frequently, and was finally cut loose after dark by its disgusted would-be captors who found themselves unable to tire it out!
Of tanguingui, or sail fish, there are at least two species. The smaller commonly attains a weight of twenty to forty pounds. ”

“ The barracuda was gone and the leader had been rolled up. This astounded us. That swordfish had taken my bait. I felt his first pull. Then he had come toward the boat, crushing the bait off the hook, without making even a twitch on the slack line. It was heartbreaking. But we could not have done any different. Dan decided the fish had come after the teasers. This experience taught us exceeding respect for the broadbill.
Again we were off early in the morning. Wind outside and growing rough. Sun bright until off Isthmus, when we ran into fog. The Jap albacore-boats were farther west. ”

“ All along south of the Florida reef they had constant glimpses of tarpon, devil-fish, and barracuda, the mightiest fish in the Gulf Stream. For it must be understood that whales and sharks avoid the greatest river in the world. We will explain why later. During the next few days they frequently saw tarpon (Megalops Atlanticus) six feet long, reminding one of gigantic herring. Some of them must have weighed one hundred and fifty pounds; and the one which nearly boarded the steamer, leaping into the air a foot from the bows of the Miosen, was fully this weight.
KEY WEST.
From a Photo. ”

“ In these atolls where there is no soil, and where water lies close under the coral surface, even burial is difficult. Cyclones as in Hikueru have torn the coral coverings off the graves, and swept the coffins, corpses, 494and bones into the lagoon and the maws of the sharks and the voracious barracuda. For Mapuhi a marble cenotaph would be ordered in Tahiti, and cover him when made in a few weeks. ”

“ An instrument for recording both pressure and temperature, as of the atmosphere.
Bar`ra*cu"da (?) , n. [Native name.] Any of several voracious pikelike marine fishes allied to the gray mullets, constituting the genus Sphyræna and family Sphyrænidæ. The great barracuda (S. barracuda) of the West Indies, Florida, etc., is often six feet or more long, and as dangerous as a shark. In Cuba its flesh is reputed to be poisonous. S. Argentea of the Pacific coast and S. sphyræna of Europe are smaller species, and are used as food. ”

“ Armed with a long, slender pole tipped with a barb, to which a long rope was fastened, the native had speared the fish, which darted away like 'greased lightning,' [Pg 459] actually towing the boat a full mile before he was hauled aboard exhausted. He said it was pretty exciting sport, and jokingly suggested my engaging a school of barracuda to tow the Miosen to Stockholm. He observed, however, that they would probably leave the ship at Tindhölm, as they only frequent the Gulf Stream. ”

“ They attain to a length of eight feet, and a weight of forty pounds; individuals of this large size are dangerous to bathers. They are generally used as food, but sometimes (especially in the West Indies) their flesh assumes poisonous qualities, from having fed on smaller poisonous fishes. Seventeen species.
The Barracudas existed in the tertiary epoch, their remains being frequently found at Monte Bolca. Some other fossil genera have been associated with them, but as they are known from jaws and teeth or vertebræ only, their position in the [500] system cannot be exactly determined ”

“ And the barracouta ate the remains of the Inkmaker at his leisure. He had no concern to those swordfish when there was tender and delicious squid to be had; for the Inkmaker, you know, was just a kind of big squid, or cuttlefish."
"But what's a barracouta?" demanded the Babe hurriedly.
"Well, he's just a fish!" said Uncle Andy. "But he's a very savage and hungry fish, some three or four feet long, with tremendous jaws like a pickerel's. And he lives only in the salt water, fortunately. He's not a nice fellow, either, to have around when you're swimming, I can tell you!" ”

“ It is among the Leeward Islands, however, that the barracouta attains his largest dimensions, and has inspired the fishermen and boatmen with such dread of him that, while they hold the universally feared shark in supreme contempt, the mere rumour of a “devil-fish” anywhere in their vicinity will bring every nigger within hail scrambling out of the water in double-quick time. ”

“ About six feet below the barnacles a cavernous-jawed barracouta, perhaps five feet long, lay motionless but for the easy waving of its fins. It must have been gorged, for Mahoney, in all his seafaring, had never before seen one of these ravenous and ferocious fish thus at rest. It must even have, for once, lapsed into something like sleep,—a perilous lapse in the strenuous life of the sea, for anything less formidable than a sperm whale or an orca, and not without its dangers even for them. Its wide-set, staring eyes seemed to command a view in every direction. ”

“ The lands of old Barret never had been destined for man, so let the most loathsome pests nest among them, and the more, the better.
In the midst of these fields of desolation, which stood out in the beautiful plain like a soiled patch on a royal robe of green velvet, the barraca rose up, or one should rather say fell away, its straw roof bursting open, showing through the gaps, which the rain and wind had pierced, the worm-eaten framework of wood within. ”

“ The men at the paddles were utterly paralyzed with fear. They could not understand the presence of this huge craft, and by their inaction were an easy mark for the blow I dealt them amidships. The barge was crushed like an eggshell, and the thirty men were thrown into the water. Those that escaped being drawn under the Caribas by the suction or ground to pieces by the propeller were devoured by sharks or run through by swordfish. ”

“ These Barracoutas—Sphyrænas as the learned, or ‘pike’ as the sailors call them, though they are no kin to our pike at home—are, when large, nearly as dangerous as a shark. In some parts of the West Indies folk dare not bathe for fear of them; for they lie close inshore, amid the heaviest surf; and woe to any living thing which they come across. ”

“ A hasty breakfast was snatched, as soon as it could be got ready; and then every man available was set to work upon the task of lightening the stranded brig, her guns and such other heavy weights as were most easily accessible being transferred to the prizes, after which the second bower was weighed and run away to windward in the long-boat by means of a kedge; and such was the activity displayed, that at high-water that same afternoon—the tides were fortunately making at the time—the Barracouta floated and was hove off to her anchor. ”

“ The visit to the Harbour is best made by boat, since most of the remains now lie from 4 to 25 feet under the sea. They have, like all the coast line, subsided, because the Nile deposits on which they stand are apt to compress, and even to slide towards deeper water. They are built of limestone blocks from the quarries of Mex and Dekhela, but the construction, necessarily simple, gives no hint as to nationality or date. The modern breakwater, being built across the entrance, makes the scheme rather difficult to follow. ”

“ It was a perfect dockyard in miniature, with warehouses, capstan-house, mast house, rigging shed, sail loft—in fact every possible requisite for keeping not only one but as many as three or four craft in perfect order. And, from what I saw in passing, I judged that there must be at least fifty men regularly employed about the place! No wonder that the Barracouta was a busy ship, and her depredations of the most extensive character; they would need to be to maintain adequately such an establishment in working order. ”

“ It is just like going up stairs at one end of a long board walk and down again at the other end, only the steps are of water, and not wood.
The tug bearing Blake, Joe and Mr. Alcando was now steaming over toward Toro Point break-water, which I have before alluded to. This was built to make a good harbor at Colon, where violent storms often occur.
"I want to get some pictures of the breakwater," Blake had said, since he and his chum were to present, in reels, a story of a complete trip through the Canal, and the breakwater was really the starting point. ”

“ Now, when a river has formed its bar choking its mouth, and is then forced to make a fresh mouth, it leaves a lagoon behind this bar. At every flood its waters overflow, and are unable to escape to the sea when left behind the bar. Sometimes, in like manner, in a gale of wind on shore, the waves are carried over the bar, and there are left as a brackish pool, unable to return to the sea.
Thus the whole of the Bay of the Gulf of Lyons is masked by a false coastline of old bars, behind which lie lagoons all formed in the way indicated. ”

“ At the head of this bay a creek made up several rods into the mangroves, which served as a harbour for a small fishing vessel of about twelve tons, decked over, in which they carried their fish to Matanzas and elsewhere about the Island of Cuba. East of the beach was a Cove that extended about a quarter of a mile into the bushes, forming a kind of basin at its head, which was as still as a millpond. This basin was surrounded by thick mangroves, and completely concealed from every thing without by [Pg 13] the jutting out of a point at its entrance. ”

“ To the West of this is the great pass of Barrataria, where is about nine to ten feet of water: enough to float the ordinary pirate or privateersman’s vessel. Within this pass—about two miles from the open sea—lies the only safe harbor upon the coast, and this is where the cut-throats, pirates, and smugglers gathered under Lafitte. They called themselves Barratarians, and they were a godless crew. ”

“ Vessels of 1000 tons can anchor to the lee of the breakwater in perfect safety, can also come alongside the wharf attached to the breakwater, and load and unload with perfect ease and great dispatch, even when there is a heavy sea running and breaking over the breakwater. All this has not been obtained without some trouble, for at times the angry seas have knocked about the concrete blocks as if they were of wood, and on one occasion threw down 100 feet in length of the mole, distributing the blocks over the bottom to forty feet from the line of works. ”

“ Even in one's sleep one sees the reeling, writhing mass of kicking and struggling cargueros on the white and ragged-sided barranca. [6] Got off at 10.30 and reached the River Mayo, a very small stream here, flowing through a wide valley lined by bare steep cliffs 200 feet or so in height. We are all becoming quite expert with the cargoes; Burbury and Barckhausen, and Jones and I work in pairs. The newness has now worn off the ropes, and hauling on them does not any longer cut our hands. ”

“ At the head of the gulf the pilot, immediately on taking charge of a ship, with the help of his own boat’s crew, shifts her head to keep her clear of the shoals, and tows her from one fixed station to another, moving with the beginning of the tide, and dropping anchor at certain roadsteads and basins when it ebbs. These basins occur at points where the river is deeper than usual, all the way up to Barugaza, which is 300 stadia distant from the mouth of the river if you sail up the stream to reach it. ”

“ The swell is here very great, rendering it a matter of some hazard when jumping into, or out of, a boat; besides, only one boat can come to at a time, in a position suitable to hostile purposes; and it is not to be supposed, that the battery above, or that on the landing-place, or the sea-line, or the works on Ladder Hill, would be silent upon such an occasion. Certain destruction awaits every person who falls into the water in this part; where the sharks are as numerous as they are ravenous. The wall of the wharf is perpendicular, and built on a rock, under which is a tremendous abyss. ”