What Does a Great Baracuda Eat?

The great barracuda can be kept as aquarium fish, provided you have the room and proper diet. Younger great barracudas can start out in 150-gallon tanks, but should eventually advance to at least 500 gallons.
    • Schools of fish are ideal barracuda fare.

    Classification

    • Great barracudas are carnivores, which means they eat meat rather than vegetation. They can be further classified as piscivores, which are fish that eat other fish.

    Hunting Method

    • Schools of fish are a common target for great barracudas in the wild. The barracuda will swim into a school and continue to chase the scattered fish until the fish tire and the great predator can chomp them to pieces.

    Fish Types

    • Tasty meals for barracudas in the wild include anchovies, smaller mullets and jacks, herrings, sardines and gobies. They also enjoy small parrotfish, grunts and silversides.

    Other

    • Wild great barracudas will also eat cephalopods, which include octopus, squid and other mollusks. Those kept in captivity can be fed feeder fish, which usually consist of bulk goldfish, or other chunky meat delicacies sold as fish food at pet stores.

    Attitude

    • Because of its aggressiveness, the great barracuda will not shy away from any type of prey it figures it may be able to eat. Any fish that can fit in its mouth looks like a tasty meal and is at risk.

    People

    • Great barracudas do not generally eat people, although they have been known to attack them on occasion. The fish are attracted to shiny objects and jerky movements and have massively powerful jaws that can sever limbs.