Yellowmouth Barracuda - Sphyraena viridensis - Gathering over the Wreck Deck

Yellowmouth Barracuda gather above the deck of the Um El Faroud wreck in Malta, moving among its encrusted railings and other marine life.

The Yellowmouth Barracuda (Sphyraena viridensis) has a long, slender and fusiform body with a pointed snout, elongated mouth and projecting lower jaw armed with sharp canine-like teeth. Its upper body is generally bluish-grey to greenish and becomes paler below, while numerous dark vertical bars cross the upper flanks and extend below the lateral line on the forward part of the body. The two dorsal fins are widely separated and the deeply forked tail provides powerful propulsion for rapid swimming. Yellowmouth Barracuda are pelagic predators that feed mainly on fishes, together with cephalopods and crustaceans, and may occur individually or form schools around rocky reefs, drop-offs and underwater structures. The species occurs from the surface to about 100 metres depth and can reach approximately 128 centimetres in length. This photograph shows a school gathering over the deck of the Um El Faroud wreck in Malta, with the barracudas moving among railings and structures that have become heavily colonised by marine life since the vessel was deliberately sunk as an artificial reef.