It has also invaded the Mediterranean through the Suez Canal from the Red Sea, making it one of the Lessepsian migrants.

The yellowtail barracuda is grey in colour on the back with a countershaded pattern of a white underside, though occasionally the flanks show a yellow tint.

[2] The yellowtail barracuda is found from the Red Sea east through the Indian and Pacific Oceans to Samoa, its northern limit is the Ryukyu Islands and its southern is on the Great Barrier Reef.

[5][6] It is established but still relatively rare in the Mediterranean but its true status may be obscured by confusion with sympatric congeners,[2] although both the yellowtail barracuda and Sphyraena chrysotaenia were found to be common off the coast of Libya.

[7] Yellowtail barracudas school by day in lagoons, inner and outer reef slopes and is probably a nocturnal hunter of fish and large invertebrates.