Great Barracuda (school of 4) vs. Common Thresher Shark

[dinosauria101]

Great Barracuda (school of 4) - Sphyraena barracuda

upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/eb/Barracuda_laban.jpg/640px-Barracuda_laban.jpg

Order: Perciformes
Family: Sphyraenidae
Length: 1.5 meters
Mass: 23 kg
Diet: Other fish
Killing apparatus: Slicing jaws
Can pose a risk to fishermen due to its sharp teeth. Lives in large schools.

Common Thresher Shark - Alopias vulpinus

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Order: Lamniformes
Family: Alopiidae
Length: 6 meters
Mass: 500 kg
Diet: Fish
Killing apparatus: Slicing jaws
One of the most widespread of all shark species. Has a very long tail of up to half its length and can leap very high out of the water with it.

[6f5e4d]

The thresher shark dominates this confrontation, with its tail and greater size.

[dinosauria101]

I don't know about DOMINATE - they are not very impressive for their size and would get destroyed at parity. But here, it has the size to win.

[Deleted]

Nope shark wins at parity. Shark skin is a lot tougher than scales so the cuda won't get a first bite and the shark could easily counter the cuda and kill it.

Great barracudas don't even hunt cooperatively when they mature

[dinosauria101]

I mean yes, shark skin is tough. Apparently however, thresher sharks are unaggressive and timid with poor bites. It may take a while to kill bt it loses at parity, badly

The lack of adult barracuda schooling is certainy to be considered however.

[Deleted]

not sure about unagressive and timid, but im pretty sure the thresher still has a larger gape than a barracuda. Threshers are pretty fast, and it can use its tail to stun the barracuda when it rushes in for a kill.

Fun fact: The reason that sharks and barracudas rarely coexist in aquariums is that even the smallest sharks get aroused by the fast shiny-ness of the barracudas and hunt them down at night. I've heard that in many shark exhibits, they either have to replace the barracudas or remove them altogether.

[dinosauria101]

I mean that is in a hunting scenario and not a fight, so I could see the sharks ambushing sleeping barracuda.

In a head on VS however, the dynamics may not apply.

[Deleted]

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The teeth of a thresher shark are pretty legit and it has a wider gape so it can cause more damage. Not sure about speed, but sharks can move pretty fast too and the shark has a durability advantage. Can't see it losing.

May even have a mobility advantage, barracuda is probably faster in a straight line but the shark's cartilige makes it more agile and able to outmanuever the cuda. Its also pretty athletic for a shark, being warm blooded

But to be fair, both animals take much smaller prey than them so neither are really adapted for the task

[dinosauria101]

Well, you do have a fair point I suppose (I agree thresher wins on avg).
Neither evolved for this match.

Maybe elosha11 can enlighten us on thresher sharks; they had a very different opinion than you.