Barracuda

Barracudas are predatory schooling fish with long bodies, prominent teeth, and a habit of forming dense circular schools — 'tornadoes' — at seamounts and reef points. The chevron barracuda (Sphyraena qenie) is the species that makes Sipadan's Barracuda Point world-famous, with schools of 500+ swirling at 5–15 metres above the coral.

Solitary great barracudas (Sphyraena barracuda) are larger, more aggressive predators that hang in mid-water near reef edges. Most divers see them at every Indo-Pacific destination — hovering motionless, eye-tracking smaller fish for an ambush strike.

Sipadan and the Red Sea (Ras Mohammed) for tornadoes. Single barracudas at Maldives, Andaman, Bali, Phuket, Komodo — every reef. Approach calm and slow; they don't react to divers but will spook from sudden movement.