European barracuda

Photo: Christian Amador Da Silva · © all rights reserved

European barracuda form large resident schools around the archipelago's rocky pinnacles and current-swept channels, often hanging motionless in mid-water before accelerating in pursuit of prey. They are visual hunters that exploit clear, high-visibility water — making La Maddalena's exceptional transparency a key driver of their density here. Schools of several hundred individuals are documented from spring through autumn, and the experience of hovering inside a circling barracuda tornado is one of the park's signature encounters.