Fish Encyclopedia
Search and identify 1,000+ fish species — freshwater, saltwater, reef, and pelagic — with habitat, size, diet, behavior, and how to tell them apart.
Whale Shark
The largest fish in the world, a gentle filter-feeding shark covered in a distinctive checkerboard pattern of pale spots and stripes, found in warm seas worldwide.
cartilaginous
Tiger Shark
A large, robust shark named for the dark vertical bars on its flanks, most vivid in juveniles, known for an unusually broad, opportunistic diet.
cartilaginous
Torpedo Ray
The largest of the electric rays, a powerful bottom-dweller capable of delivering an electric shock strong enough to stun sizeable fish.
cartilaginous
Thresher Shark
An unmistakable shark with an extraordinarily long, whip-like upper tail lobe used to stun schooling prey, found roaming temperate and tropical open oceans worldwide.
cartilaginous
Stingray
A flat, diamond-shaped cartilaginous fish that spends much of its time partly buried in sand on shallow tropical seafloors, related to sharks and equipped with a long, whip-like venomous-spined tail.
cartilaginous
Undulate Ray
A patterned skate marked with wavy dark bands across its back, found on sandy and rocky bottoms from the English Channel to the Mediterranean and West Africa.
cartilaginous
Thornback Ray
A common European skate covered in distinctive rows of sharp thorny spines, found on sandy and muddy seabeds from shallow water to the continental shelf.
cartilaginous
Shovelnose Ray
An Australian ray with a broad, shovel-shaped snout used to probe sandy seabeds for buried prey, closely related to guitarfish and often found in shallow coastal bays.
cartilaginous
Sawfish
A critically endangered ray with a long, tooth-lined snout resembling a saw, used to detect and strike schooling fish in shallow tropical waters.
cartilaginous
Spiny Dogfish
A slender, small schooling shark with sharp spines in front of each dorsal fin and no anal fin, one of the most abundant sharks worldwide.
cartilaginous
Sand Tiger Shark
A bulky, fierce-looking but generally docile shark with protruding rows of needle-like teeth, commonly seen hovering near shipwrecks and reef caves along temperate and subtropical coastlines.
cartilaginous
Smalltooth Sawfish
A Critically Endangered ray-relative with a long, tooth-lined saw-like snout, once common in warm western Atlantic coastal waters but now greatly reduced in range.
cartilaginous
Southern Stingray
A large, diamond-shaped stingray commonly seen gliding over sandy flats of the Caribbean and western Atlantic, often partially buried in sediment.
cartilaginous
Sandbar Shark
A robust, migratory requiem shark named for its very tall, triangular first dorsal fin, common in coastal nursery bays worldwide.
cartilaginous
Round Stingray
A small, round-bodied stingray common in shallow sandy surf zones along the Pacific coast, notable for large seasonal aggregations in warm bays.
cartilaginous
Nurse Shark
A slow-moving, bottom-dwelling shark with a broad flattened head and two barbels near its nostrils, often seen resting motionless on the seafloor or under ledges by day.
cartilaginous
Marbled Electric Ray
A bottom-dwelling electric ray capable of generating a strong electric shock, patterned with a mottled marbled coloration for camouflage on the seabed.
cartilaginous
Manta Ray
The largest ray in the world, a gentle filter-feeding giant with a diamond-shaped body, forward-facing cephalic fins, and unique underside spot patterns used to identify individuals.
cartilaginous
Mako Shark
The fastest shark species, built for speed with a sleek, metallic blue body, pointed snout, and crescent-shaped tail, roaming open temperate and tropical oceans worldwide.
cartilaginous
Largetooth Sawfish
One of the largest sawfish species, uniquely able to travel far up freshwater rivers, now Critically Endangered and eliminated from most of its former circumtropical range.
cartilaginous
Leopard Shark
A slender, boldly patterned houndshark common in shallow California bays, easily recognized by its dark saddle-like blotches and spots.
cartilaginous
Lemon Shark
A stocky, yellow-brown coastal shark named for its sandy coloration, recognized by two nearly equal-sized dorsal fins, common in shallow mangrove and reef habitats of the western Atlantic and eastern Pacific.
cartilaginous
Numbfish
A small electric ray capable of generating an electric shock to stun prey and deter predators, found buried in sandy shallows along warm coastlines.
cartilaginous
Little Skate
A small, common skate of the northwest Atlantic continental shelf, widely used in biological research and frequently caught as bycatch in coastal trawls.
cartilaginous
Horn Shark
A small, harmless bottom shark with heavy brow ridges and two sharp dorsal spines, common along the California coast.
cartilaginous
Longnose Chimaera
A deep-water cartilaginous fish related to sharks, marked by an unmistakably long pointed snout and a slender tapering body cruising continental slopes far below sunlight.
cartilaginous
Great White Shark
A massive, torpedo-shaped predator found in cool coastal and offshore waters worldwide, easily recognized by its sharp countershading and crescent-shaped tail.
cartilaginous
Guitarfish
A shark-like ray with a flattened, guitar-shaped body that blends features of sharks and rays, common on sandy coastal seabeds of the eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean.
cartilaginous
Hammerhead Shark
A shark instantly recognizable by its flattened, laterally extended hammer-shaped head, often seen in large daytime schools near seamounts and coastal areas.
cartilaginous
Giant Oceanic Manta Ray
The largest ray in the world, a black-and-white filter feeder with enormous triangular pectoral fins and distinctive cephalic lobes used to funnel plankton into its mouth.
cartilaginous
Electric Ray
A round-bodied ray capable of generating a powerful electric shock from specialized organs, used to stun prey and deter predators.
cartilaginous
Eagle Ray
A diamond-shaped ray with a distinctive protruding duck-like snout, often seen gliding gracefully near the seafloor in coastal waters of the eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean.
cartilaginous
Common Skate
One of the largest skates in the world, now Critically Endangered after severe historical overfishing across its North Atlantic range.
cartilaginous
Butterfly Ray
A ray with an exceptionally wide, flattened disc and short tail, resembling a butterfly in outline as it glides low over sandy coastal seabeds.
cartilaginous
Bull Shark
A stocky, grey shark famous for its extreme tolerance of fresh and brackish water, allowing it to travel far up rivers and live in freshwater lakes far from the ocean.
cartilaginous
Blue Skate
One of the largest skates in the northeast Atlantic, now rare and heavily protected after historic overfishing collapsed its populations across much of its former range.
cartilaginous
Blonde Ray
A large European skate named for its pale, sandy coloration, recognized by prominent eye-like spots near the base of each pectoral fin and a preference for sandy coastal seabeds.
cartilaginous
Blue Shark
A slender, wide-ranging oceanic shark with a striking indigo-blue back, long pointed pectoral fins, and large eyes, found throughout temperate and tropical open oceans worldwide.
cartilaginous
Bonnethead Shark
The smallest hammerhead species, easily recognized by its smooth, shovel-shaped head, common in shallow coastal waters of the Americas.
cartilaginous
Bat Ray
A large, dark-backed eagle ray of the eastern Pacific coast, often seen gliding over sand flats or excavating pits to unearth buried prey.
cartilaginous
Basking Shark
The world's second-largest fish, a massive gray-brown filter feeder recognized by its enormous gaping mouth and huge gill slits, often seen basking at the surface in cool temperate seas.
cartilaginous