Barracudinas, belonging to the family Paralepididae, are slender, elongated deep-sea fish found in tropical and temperate oceans worldwide. While not as commercially prominent as other pelagic species, barracudinas are harvested primarily as bycatch in trawl and deepwater fisheries and are occasionally targeted for use as bait in tuna and billfish fisheries. The "Not Elsewhere Included" (NEI) category in FAO fisheries statistics groups together countries with smaller or less-reported barracudina catches. Major contributors to barracudina landings in this NEI category include Japan, Spain, Portugal, and China, where the species is typically processed into fishmeal or used locally as food. These countries, with advanced deepwater fishing fleets, exploit barracudinas mainly in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, reflecting the species' wide distribution and the opportunistic nature of their harvest within broader deep-sea fisheries.
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Data from FAO. 2025. Global Capture Production. In: Fisheries and Aquaculture.