Chevron barracuda
Sphyraena qenie
By day, chevron barracuda may gather in large, still schools on reefs with current. Hang outside the swirl and never swim through it. Sightings are never promised.
Least Concern (IUCN, 2023) means it is not at high risk of extinction worldwide today.
Photos show the species, not always the places on this page.
Length
Usually about 80 cm (2.6 ft) long; largest recorded about 1.7 m (5.6 ft)
Weight
Typical weight not reliably measured; published maximum records disagree
Next to a person
Most adults are about as long as half an adult's leg; the rare largest are close to a person's height
What it eats
Mainly other fish. They feed mostly at night, dusk and dawn, after the daytime schools break up.
Around people
Calm, give space
How it lives
Chevron barracuda form large schools that hold their position by day, and a school may stay at the same site for months or even years. At night the schools break up and the fish spread out to hunt other fish.
Where it goes
By day the schools hold their position and may stay at the same site for months or even years. At night they break up and the fish spread out to hunt.
We only draw a journey on the map when scientists have tracked it or clearly documented it. For this animal we have not found one yet.
Populations
Found across the Indo-Pacific, forming large daytime schools at many reef sites, from the Red Sea to Southeast Asia and the Pacific islands. There are no named subspecies or well-documented regional size forms.
Meet it respectfully
Stay outside the school and never swim through it, chase it, surround it or herd it for photos. Keep fins and cameras clear of the fish, avoid sudden moves toward them, and let the school choose how close to pass. Follow local park rules and your guide's briefing, as rules differ by place.
Fun fact
Tap the bulb to light it up.
Daytime schools can hold the same reef corner for months or even years, then break up at night to hunt.
A circling daytime school is not attacking divers. The fish are resting and social, and they hunt mostly at night.
It is not a great barracuda. On a great barracuda the dark bars stay above the line along its side and the tail tips are white; on a chevron barracuda the bars cross that line and the tail is mostly black.
Look for its stripes. Many dark bars cross its sides, slanting in the upper half and dropping almost straight down in the lower half, like rows of chevrons.
A chevron barracuda can grow up to 170 cm long, though most are around 80 cm.
Chevron barracuda in the Ocean Atlas
Places we have researched where this animal is recorded. It is never guaranteed, and some places are for watching from the boat only.
Travel with usComing soonTrusted referralExploringOn pause, story onlyEthics pass
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American Samoa
Australia
Egypt
Fiji
French Polynesia
Indonesia
Japan
Malaysia
Maldives
Mozambique
Myanmar
New Caledonia
Palau
Panama
Papua New Guinea
Philippines
Solomon Islands
South Africa
ThailandSources for this page
Facts checked 26 September 2026. Photos: Unsplash licence, or Creative Commons as shown on each photo.
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