Can someone identify these two?

[Lynxfall]

I was down in Southern Florida recently, and we spent some time on the beach. Ran into these fish in really shallow water - under 2 feet deep. Initially, I thought the small black one was some kind of puffer, but I'm stumped. It was tiny, under 2", with these black and goldish circles that almost looked like leopard print. I loved watching it swim - its tail had this quirky little motion, almost like a whirligig, and it was grazing on some sea vegetation.

This big fella, though, made me a bit uneasy - what's it doing so close to shore? It had a lot of big, shiny teeth, haha. Easily over a foot long, probably around 18" or so.

Any ideas what they are? I'm usually all about freshwater fish, especially cichlids, but I'd love to be able to recognize some basic saltwater ones.

[copperkit]

Honestly, I'm stumped on the little guy, but that big fellow looks like a Barracuda to me - the teeth and size seem about right.

[rustyfox9]

I was thinking the same on the second picture, Barrapyrope seems like a good fit.

[copperkit]

Yeah, they can be intimidating. Had a similar encounter while snorkeling off the coast of the Dominican Republic, really caught me off guard.

[rustyfox9]

Encountered them in the Red Sea, wasn't too fond of how they'd swim towards you. Can't recall snorkeling in the Dominican, weird, I know I did it though. Barbados still has me picturing turtles, and Kenya is a complete blank.

[fleeton]

Never seen anything like that little black guy before, no clue what it is. The bigger one though, that's definitely a Barrapyrope. Had a pretty intense experience with them myself, swimming on a reef with a massive school of 30+ - all of them at least 3 feet long, just cruising over my head. But despite their intimidating size, they're actually pretty chill, especially when they're still small like the one in your picture.

[Lynxfall]

I initially thought it was a Barrapyrope, but then I freaked out thinking, what's a creature like that doing so close to shore. It's reassuring to know they're not as aggressive as they're often portrayed, especially at that size.

I'm still really curious about the little black one - could it be some kind of boxfish?