Identifying characteristics for this species vary among the experts. It is particularly easy to confuse with S. putnamae (Military Barracuda) (Australian RLS records are possibly this species), which has elongated fin rays forming a filament at the lower rear portion of the rear dorsal fin, while S. qenie has a scalloped tail shape (with noticable notch in the centre of the rear tail margin). The individual pictured from Raja Ampat shows both of these characteristics, however. The also similarly marked large barracuda S. jello has neither the scalloped tail margin (it has straight edges to the inside fork) nor longer dorsal fin filament. 

• Max Size: 170 cm
• Sea Temperature Range: 23.3-31.3°C
• Depth: 1-100m
• Habitat: Coral Reef, Open ocean

• IUCN Threat Status: Not Evaluated
• Occurrence: Infrequent (2% of sites)
  Occurrence describes how often the species is found on surveys within its distribution. It is calculated as the % of reef sites surveyed by RLS divers across all the ecoregions in which the species has been observed
• Abundance: Several (7 per transect)
  Abundance is calculated as the average number of individuals recorded per RLS transect, where present.