Solitary, motionless, and frequently following divers at a distance.
To about 165 cm, long and cylindrical, silver-grey with a few scattered dark blotches on the lower flanks, a pointed head and a large mouth with visible teeth. Juveniles are barred and live in shallow seagrass and mangrove edges. Unlike the schooling barracudas it is almost always alone.
It hangs motionless in mid-water, often above a wreck or at the edge of a slope, and attacks prey in a short high-speed run. Individuals frequently take station a few metres behind a diver and hold there for much of a dive; the behaviour appears to be an interest in whatever the diver disturbs rather than in the diver. Attacks on people are rare and are associated with speared fish and with shiny objects in murky water. Recorded from about 2 to 45 m.
Ratings are per location: 1 means found on most dives that look for it, 5 means a handful of records. Where enough dives have been logged the figure is calculated from them; otherwise it is an editorial estimate, and says so. We publish habitat and destination, not the dive site.