Welcome to FISH FOOD TIMES
Oct. 2025 issue No.262
Sharpfin Barracuda
I thought it was a big Japanese barracuda...,but...
I entered the fish section of the supermarket I always use through the back door around 8am, two hours before the opening time of 10am, and found this fish piled high on ice in an island case in the fish section. Judging from the color and shape, this fish doesn't seem to be a red barracuda, but it's quite big for a Japanese barracuda... I thought, looking puzzled, when the person in charge of purchasing explained to me that this fish was a Japanese barracuda. However, I felt that it was about three to four times the size of any Japanese barracuda I had seen before.
When I brought it home and measured its length and weight, it was 44cm and weighed 493g.
（The image above shows the fish bent on the scale, making it appear shorter and rounder）
These images alone may not give you a good idea of its size, so let me show you a comparison with the Red Barracuda that I purchased at the same time, which is by no means small.
What's even more clear is the following image:
In addition, I lined up some large raw saury, 23 of which came in a 4kg box, next to them. For comparison, the raw saury I bought at the same time weighed 175g each, so it's safe to say that this was a large-sized one. The barracuda was about three times the size of that large saury, so it was indeed "big."
I thought this barracuda was not the ordinary Japanese barracuda that I often see, so I looked into it and found out that it was called a sharpfin barracuda. What is commonly called the Japanese barracuda is its standard Japanese name, Yamatokamasu, and in biological classification, both belong to the order Perciformes, suborder Scombridae, genus Scombridae.
However, there is a difference in their habitats: Japanese barracudas live in coastal areas from Hokkaido to Kyushu, while sharpfin barracudas live in warm waters from the Nansei Islands south of Kyushu to around Australia.
How to utilize this size
I also purchased a red barracuda at the same time in order to clarify the size of the sharpfin barracuda, but I also wanted to take this opportunity to personally confirm and comment on the differences in the flesh quality and texture between the Japanese barracuda and the red barracuda, not just in size. For this reason, I have decided to devote a fair number of images and text to not only the sharpfin barracuda, but also the red barracuda, writing about the sharpfin barracuda in the first half and the red barracuda from the middle onwards, and will touch on the differences between them.
First of all, when I touched the sharpfin barracuda, I felt that it had the same soft flesh as the Japanese barracuda, which is one of its characteristics. From this, I can infer that it must be watery, just like Japanese barracuda, and we thought that controlling the moisture content might be the key to enjoying sharpfin barracuda. So, I decided to use the usual method of konbu-jime (seaweed-curing) to absorb the moisture from one half of the fish, and then take advantage of its size to make rod-shaped pressed sushi.
| Sharpfin barracuda fillet a fish into three pieces working process | |
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| 1，Make an incision next to the pectoral fin on the lower body. (Images of the scale removal process are omitted.) | 9，Cut towards the head and separate the lower body. |
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| 2，Make an incision next to the pectoral fin on the upper body and cut off the head. | 10，After filleting a fish into two pieces, the upper body still has the central bone attached. |
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| 3，Pull the head with the internal organs still attached to the left and separate it. | 11，Start cutting from the edge of the dorsal fin on the upper body and work your way towards the backbone. |
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| 4，Cut open the abdomen vertically down the center. | 12，Start cutting from the edge of the anal fin on the upper body and work your way towards the backbone. |
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| 5，Use the tip of a deba knife to scrape out the internal organs. | 13，Cut towards the head and separate the upper body from the central bone. |
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| 6，Wash off the chiai meat. | 14，Chip out the belly bone from the upper body. |
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| 7，Drain the fish, then cut into the lower body along the edge of the anal fin and work your way towards the backbone. | 15，Chip out the belly bone from the lower body. |
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| 8，Drain the fish, then cut into the lower body along the edge of the dorsal fin and work your way towards the backbone. | 16，Fillet a fish into three pieces is complete. |
When I filleted the sharpfin barracuda into three pieces, my impression was that it had a similar softness to Japanese barracuda, just as I had expected. However, because it was so large, the fish meat split was quite noticeable, and I felt that it would not be suitable for cutting into small pieces and shaping into a product. Taking these qualities into consideration, the kombu-jime process was carried out as follows, which resulted in the flesh being nicely firm, making it easier to handle in the subsequent steps.
| Sharpfin Barracuda's Kombu-Jime Process | |
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| 1，I decided to make the upper body into pressed sushi and removed the small bones. | 6，Place the upper body on top of the Rausu kelp. |
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| 2，Place the deboned upper body on a paper towel, sprinkle with salt and leave for a while. | 7，Place Rausu kelp on top so that it covers the entire surface of the upper body. |
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| 3，Moisten the surface of the Rausu kelp with kitchen paper soaked in vinegar. | 8，Place the plastic wrap underneath on top and wrap the whole thing up. |
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| 4，Cut the Rausu kelp to the same length as the upper body. | 9，After letting it sit for about 3 hours, the kelp will absorb the moisture and firm up to the right consistency. |
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| 5，Spread plastic wrap in a container and place the cut Rausu kelp on top. | 10，Remove the kelp covering and it's done. |
The sharpfin barracuda that I used Kombu-jime became firm and very easy to handle. The sharpfin barracuda was thicker and heavier than the small Japanese barracuda I had made in the past, when I had made Kombu-jime with several of them. And because of this, when I made the rod-shaped pressed sushi shown below, I felt a sense of anticipation, thinking, "This is sure to be delicious..."
| Sharpfin barracuda rod-shaped pressed sushi production process | |
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| 1，Make cuts at regular intervals in the kombu-jime upper body from the head to the tail. | 9，Place the seared upper body on top of the sushi rice. |
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| 2，Make another cut in the same way, crossing the first cut. | 10，Wrap the makisu from the front side to the back side. |
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| 3，Sear the surface with a burner. | 11，Finish rolling it up while imagining a square rod, then push back the rice that has come out on both sides with both hands. |
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| 4，Place half of the prepared 250g sushi rice on the wrapped makisu. | 12，Unwrap the makisu and it's done. |
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| 5，Place an appropriate amount of pickled ginger in the center of the sushi rice. | 13，Cut the rod-shaped pressed sushi in half down the center. |
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| 6，Place the remaining sushi rice on top of the pickled ginger. | 14，Arrange the two cut pieces in front and back, then divide them in half again. |
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| 7，The sushi rice is ready. | 15，Rod-shaped pressed sushi cut into quarters. |
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| 8，Sprinkle some chopped green onions on top of the sushi rice. | 16，Each quarter was further divided into two equal parts, for a total of eight parts. |
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| Arrange four of the eight pieces on top to create sharpfin barracuda rod-shaped pressed sushi. | |
I'll write about my experience after eating the sharpfin barracuda rod-shaped pressed sushi. It was truly delicious, of the highest quality. I'm sure some of you readers like mackerel pressed sushi, but it's a completely different world from the hard, hard mackerel pressed sushi that's been put into a mold.
The key to its deliciousness is the soft texture of the sharpfin barracuda, which has just the right amount of moisture released from the flesh. It has a texture that cannot be experienced with pressed sushi like mackerel sushi, and the harmony of flavors, combined with the umami of the konbu-jime kelp and the fragrant aroma of the grilling, is truly a five-star experience.
the other half body
The upper body of the sharpfin barracuda was a great dish, but the other half was a bit of a headache. It would be too boring to use the other half as a konbu-jime product, and the fish is 44cm long, so it would be difficult to use it as long to make grilled or boiled fish products. If it were to be made into sashimi as is, the wateriness would ruin the flavor, and if it was made into sashimi, there would be a risk that the shape would be distorted due to the fish meat split. I thought that its long, thin shape probably wouldn't look good in a meunière or sauté.
So I came up with the idea of making it into a tatsuta-age dish, which generally uses small fillets, and I decided that the long, slender shape of the sharpfin barracuda was suitable for small fillets.
| Sharpfin Barracuda's Tatsuta-age process | |
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| 1，Sharpfin Barracuda lower body. | 5，Prepare a seasoning liquid by mixing equal parts soy sauce, sake, and mirin with grated ginger and garlic. |
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| 2，Place the skin side down and cut from the tail end. | 6，Marinate the fillets in the seasoning liquid. |
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| 3，Cut 2-3cm wide pieces towards the head. | 7，After dipping the fillets in the seasoning liquid, lightly coat the surface with potato starch. |
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| 4，I cut the half body into five pieces. | 8，Deep fry in 180℃ oil until golden brown. |
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| 9，Place a paper towel on a plate and arrange the sharpfin barracuda tatsuta-age on top. | |
The taste of this tatsuta-age was also quite good, and I was able to thoroughly enjoy its flavor. The soft, moist flesh of the sharpfin barracuda gives the deep-fried fish a chewy exterior yet a soft texture inside, which I felt made it taste even more delicious.
Rather than eating fresh sharpfin barracuda as sashimi, I think its soft, moist flesh is best served in slightly prepared dishes such as Seared Kombu-jime or Tatsuta-age.
Comparison with Red Barracuda
The sharpfin barracuda described so far is called Yamatokamasu by its standard Japanese name, and is classified as a different species from the Japanese barracuda. However, they are so similar that one might say they are the same species, differing only in size, and I personally think that the sharpfin barracuda could be called the "Big Aokamasu."
On the other hand, if you were to ask about barracuda in a typical fish section, the question would likely start with a question like, "Red? Blue? Which one...?" and then the method of marketing and selling price would be decided. Generally, red barracuda is called real barracuda, and the common Japanese name for Japanese barracuda is blue barracuda. In the fish market, red barracudas are traded at a higher price than blue barracudas.
However, in the fish section, red barracuda is not necessarily sold at a higher price than blue barracuda. In fact, it seems that both the red and blue varieties are often sold simply under the product name "barracuda" without any clear distinction being made between them. The fish section is not able to fully communicate the value of red barracuda to customers, and the reality is that red barracuda is being treated in the same way as blue barracuda, as shown in the image below. (From now on, Japanese barracuda will be referred to as blue barracuda.)
So, this time, for the sake of comparison, I decided to eat red barracuda raw as sushi and sashimi, and note the differences between it and blue barracuda.
| Red barracuda sushi and sashimi work process (cutting work similar to above omitted) | |
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| 1，The weight of the red barracuda is 229g. | 4,Since the fish is not large, the skin is removed using the uchibiki technique. |
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| 2，When I filled a fish into three pieces, the flesh was firmer than that of blue barracuda and there were fewer fish meat splits. | 5，The skin on the lower body is also removed using the uchibiki technique. |
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| 3，Because the fish is long and slender, it is sold in half without separating the back and belly, so removing the small bones is an essential step. | 6，With the skin removed. |
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| The lower body is filled with five pieces of sushi toppings to create red barracuda nigiri sushi. | |
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| Red barracuda sashimi, the upper body of which is cut into hiratsukuri sashimi and arranged in two piles | |
Red and blue are red sea bream and yellowback seabream
After tasting the finished red barracuda sushi and sashimi, I got the impression that it was something completely different from blue barracuda. Red barracuda has firm flesh and is not as soft as blue barracuda, and does not contain as much moisture as blue barracuda, which is also known as water barracuda.
When it comes to dishes that are suitable for barracuda, the first thing that comes to mind is grilling with salt, which is a delicious way to take advantage of the high moisture content of the flesh, just like yellowback seabream. This certainly seems appropriate for the blue barracuda, but what about the red barracuda?
Unfortunately, this is an excuse, but the fact is that I myself have treated both reds and blues the same, so I cannot say anything too arrogant about that. However, this time I had the opportunity to compare the Sharpfin Barracuda and the Red Barracuda, and by looking at them from a different angle I made some new discoveries.
To use another fish as an example, it is similar to the difference between red sea bream and yellowback seabream. Red barracuda is red sea bream, and blue barracuda is yellowback seabream. I imagine that readers will probably assume that while red sea bream is primarily eaten raw as sashimi or sushi, yellowback seabream will be commercialized as a salt-grilled dish. In this way, I think that the recipes and commercialization of these fish are fundamentally different, but I think that red barracuda and blue barracuda should be treated in a similar way.
Generally, both red barracuda and blue barracuda are available at relatively reasonable prices, and are expected to be steadily available in the fall, making them one of the fish that will be increasingly available in the fish section. This year has been a complete change from last year, with an increase in the catch of fresh saury, so you may be focusing on that, but barracuda is also a delicious fish, so don't miss it this season.
Not only are catches of fresh saury recovering, but also of Japanese flying squid, and I hear that the number of bluefin tuna has increased so much that they are becoming a nuisance to fixed net fishermen due to catch quotas. It seems that fresh saury is driving sales in the seafood sector nationwide in September this year, and if bluefin tuna and Japanese flying squid also contribute to sales, we can expect some very good figures for the seafood sector in the second half of 2025.
In such a favorable environment, I hope you will not forget about the sales of barracuda species introduced in this month's issue.
An opinion and the communication are to iinfo@fish food times
Date of updating 1 Oct. 2025
