Bar`ra*cu"da (?), Bar`ra*cou"ta (?), n. [Native name.] Zool.
1.
Any of several voracious pikelike marine fishes allied to the
gray mullets, constituting the genus Sphyraena and family
Sphyraenidae. 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.
sphyraena of Europe are smaller species, and are used as
food.
⇒ That of Europe and our Atlantic coast is Sphyraena spet (or S. vulgaris); a southern species is S. picuda; the Californian is S. argentea.
2.
A large edible fresh-water fish of Australia and New Zealand (Thyrsites atun).
© Webster 1913.