Hey Siri, Play Barracuda By Heart. (San Salvador Edition)
My name is Loren Quintana, a senior student at University of South Carolina Beaufort studying coastal ecology and conservation.
Ever since I solidified my spot on the Natural History of Bahamas course I found myself googling "How to fend off Barracudas", which was comical yet still a real cause for concern, as I've heard through the grape vine that they are creatures not to be taken lightly if encountered.
The Sphyraena barracuda is a magnificent, shimmery silver fish donned with black spots along the belly with its strikingly tubular body and famously characteristic prominent jaw filled with razor sharp teeth. The great barracudas find their home to many patch reefs spreading throughout the world as well as mangroves and seagrass beds, which was basically everywhere we snorkeled on the beautiful island of San Salvador, Bahamas!
My first encounter with the barracuda(s) (plural scary) is when we had taken our snorkel journey to "The Wall" which is a drop off cliff of thousands of feet from the carbonate island which San Salvador sits upon. We had reached our destination and began our observations of the drop off when I couldn't help but notice not one, not two, but three barracudas finding our group to be alarmingly interesting to look at. Barracudas are curiously opportunistic creatures, especially towards spear fishers, scuba divers, snorkelers (us). The latter suggests that there's injured fish to snatch up and an easy meal to fix for the barracudas. Even though I have never encountered a barracuda, I had known instantly from their famous looks that those creatures invading our personal spaces where indeed the great barracudas.
It's kind of like noticing Volkswagen Beetles when you're out on the road once you spot one, it's all you can see from then on.
After I surely had my fix of barracuda sightings at the wall while on my journey back to shore from experiencing the wonders of the drop off, I was met with another barracuda on their lonesome, fairly close to shore. Not wanting to take my eye off the sketchy stalker, the barracuda and I took a swim together as I tried my best to make it to shore in a timely fashion without causing a flare of reaction. The behaviors of barracudas are quite unsettling yet theres no real reason to panic unless you're in turbid waters that are lacking clarity, or wearing shiny jewelry, or a small reef fish that happens to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. The great barracudas are known to stalk the habitants of the water to deem if you are prey or not, sizing up and deciding if the energy is worth the reward of food.
The amazing experience brought to me on this Natural History of Bahamas course is thanks to the professors of USCB, Dr. Ritchie, Dr. Staton and Dr. Sawyer, as well as the faculty of the Gerace Research Centre. None of this would've happened without you!
(Pictured: great barracuda)
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