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.
Island Trevally
The Island Trevally is a deep-bodied jack found around Indo-Pacific reefs, recognized by faint yellow-orange spots scattered along its silvery flanks and a forked yellow tail.
reef
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
Gudgeon
A small, bottom-dwelling cyprinid with a pair of sensory barbels at the mouth corners, the gudgeon forages over gravel and sand in loose shoals, well camouflaged among stones.
freshwater
Longfin Trevally
A moderately deep-bodied Indo-Pacific trevally recognized by its elongated, filament-like dorsal and anal fin tips, typically found alone over sandy coastal bottoms.
reef
Grayling
A slender freshwater salmonid relative famed for its tall, sail-like dorsal fin, native to cold, clear rivers of Europe.
freshwater
Lawnmower Blenny
The Lawnmower Blenny is a mottled brown-and-cream reef fish with a stocky body and comb-like teeth, known for grazing algae off rock and rubble surfaces on shallow Indo-Pacific reefs.
reef
Harlequin Rasbora
A small, deep-bodied freshwater fish with a coppery-orange body and a distinctive black triangular patch covering the rear half, native to the blackwater streams of Southeast Asia.
freshwater
Longsnout Seahorse
A slender, long-snouted seahorse native to the western Atlantic that anchors itself to soft corals and mangrove roots with its prehensile tail. It comes in a wide range of colors, from yellow and orange to red and black.
reef
Giant Grouper
The largest bony fish found on coral reefs, the giant grouper is a massive Indo-Pacific predator with a huge head and mouth, capable of ambushing prey as large as small sharks and turtles.
reef
Longfin African Conger
A slender, sand-dwelling conger with a distinctly long dorsal fin and a two-tone body, found burrowing along reef flats and lagoons across the Indo-Pacific and East African coast.
reef
Green Spotted Puffer
A small, popular aquarium puffer with a bright green, black-spotted back and white belly, native to brackish estuaries and mangrove creeks across Southeast Asia.
brackish
Lemon Sole
A thick-bodied northeastern Atlantic flatfish with smooth, slippery, mottled reddish-brown skin, a small mouth, and a preference for firm sand or gravel seabeds.
saltwater
Giant Moray
The Giant Moray is the largest moray eel species, a densely spotted Indo-Pacific reef predator that shelters in crevices by day and hunts fish and invertebrates at night.
reef
Long-spined Porcupinefish
The Long-spined Porcupinefish is a spiny, balloon-shaped fish that can inflate its body dramatically, erecting long, permanently attached spines as a defense against predators.
reef
Giant Gourami
The largest gourami species, a deep-bodied Southeast Asian labyrinth fish that can exceed two feet in length and shifts from an insect-eating juvenile diet to a largely plant-based adult diet.
freshwater
Inshore Hagfish
The inshore hagfish is a jawless, slime-producing scavenger found burrowing in muddy coastal seabeds off Japan, Korea, and China, closer to shore than most other hagfish species.
saltwater
Green Chromide
A deep-bodied cichlid from South Asian estuaries, olive-green with rows of shimmering pearly spots along its flanks. It is one of the largest brackish-water cichlids and an important species in coastal lagoon ecosystems.
brackish
Humbug Damselfish
A small white damselfish marked with three bold black bars and a clear tail, living in tight groups among the branches of Indo-Pacific coral colonies.
reef
Gulf Menhaden
A deep-bodied, oily-scaled herring relative that forms enormous schools in Gulf of Mexico estuaries, playing a major role as a forage fish in coastal food webs.
brackish
Ide
A robust, silvery cyprinid of large European rivers and lakes, the ide (commonly bred as the golden 'orfe') forms active surface shoals and is a widely stocked ornamental pond fish worldwide.
freshwater
Grunt Sculpin
A small, oddly shaped sculpin with an elongated, beak-like snout and orange-and-brown striped body, famous for mimicking the appearance of an empty giant acorn barnacle shell.
saltwater
Keeltail Needlefish
A slender needlefish easily identified by the raised keel-like ridge on either side of its tail base, found cruising the surface of warm coastal waters worldwide.
saltwater
Green Tiger Barb
A green-toned color variant of the popular Tiger Barb, retaining the same bold dark bands and active, schooling nature as the classic orange form.
freshwater
Knife Livebearer
A slender Central American livebearer named for the sharp, blade-like keel along its belly, an adaptation believed to aid rapid escape jumps.
freshwater
Grey Gurnard
A bottom-dwelling gurnard with an armored, pale-spotted grey-brown back and large bluish pectoral fins, common across sandy shelf waters of Europe.
saltwater
Inland Silverside
A small, slender silverside native to Gulf and Atlantic coastal waters, notable for tolerating a wide range of salinities from brackish estuaries to inland reservoirs.
brackish
Grouper
A heavy-bodied reef predator with a large mouth and mottled camouflage pattern, known for lying in wait near reef structure before ambushing fish and crustaceans.
reef
Honeycomb Cowfish
A boxy, rigid-bodied cowfish of the tropical western Atlantic, its bluish-green scales outlined in dark hexagonal borders creating a honeycomb pattern, with a pair of forward-pointing horns above the eyes.
reef
Golden Shiner
A slender, deep-bodied North American minnow with brassy golden-silver sides, the golden shiner is among the continent's most widely used baitfish, thriving in weedy ponds and slow-moving water.
freshwater
Lacustrine Rainbowfish
A brilliant turquoise-blue rainbowfish endemic to Lake Kutubu in Papua New Guinea, now considered endangered due to pollution linked to nearby natural gas extraction.
freshwater
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
Kokanee Salmon
Kokanee are a landlocked, non-migratory form of sockeye salmon that spend their entire life in freshwater lakes, turning bright red during their autumn spawning run into tributary streams.
freshwater
Glass Knifefish
A slender, near-transparent South American fish that swims using a continuous rippling fin and emits a weak electric field to sense its surroundings.
freshwater
Jack Dempsey
A robust Central American cichlid named after a boxing champion for its feisty temperament, known for iridescent blue-green speckling that develops as it matures.
freshwater
Gold Gourami
A selectively bred, solid golden-yellow color variety of the Three Spot Gourami, developed for the aquarium trade and sharing the same hardy, adaptable biology as its wild-type relative.
freshwater
Houndfish
A large, elongated needlefish with a crocodile-like beak of sharp teeth, found cruising just below the surface of warm coastal waters worldwide in search of small fish.
saltwater
Goliath Grouper
One of the largest bony fish on Atlantic reefs, the goliath grouper is a massive, mottled brown ambush predator that shelters around wrecks, caves, and mangrove-lined shorelines.
reef
Japanese Anchovy
A small, abundant schooling fish found throughout the coastal waters of Japan, Korea, and China, the Japanese Anchovy is one of the most heavily fished species in the western Pacific and a vital link in regional marine food webs.
pelagic
Guineafowl Pufferfish
The Guineafowl Pufferfish is a variably colored reef puffer, most often dark brown to black with small white spots, resembling the plumage of a guineafowl bird.
reef
Japanese Amberjack
The Japanese Amberjack, or yellowtail, is a streamlined pelagic jack from the northwestern Pacific, identified by its bright yellow lateral stripe and yellow-tinged fins.
pelagic
Hardyhead Silverside
A robust, silvery schooling fish common in shallow lagoons and reef flats across the Indo-Pacific, identified by its broad head and prominent silver midline stripe.
saltwater
Kawakawa
A compact, fast schooling tuna of the Indo-Pacific with a wavy dark pattern on its back and several distinctive dark spots between the pectoral and pelvic fins.
pelagic
Head and Tail Light Tetra
An Amazon and Guiana river characin named for its glowing metallic eye and tail-base spots, resembling a pair of tiny headlights.
freshwater
Immaculate Puffer
A plain, unmarked Indo-Pacific puffer with a smooth grayish-brown body, subtle pale belly, and dark rings around the eyes, often found over sandy and muddy coastal habitats.
saltwater
Honey Gourami
A small, peaceful South Asian labyrinth fish whose breeding males flush a warm honey-gold to orange color with a dark throat and belly, making it a popular gentle community fish.
freshwater
Kelp Bass
The kelp bass is a mottled olive-brown temperate reef fish closely tied to kelp forests along the eastern Pacific coast, often seen hovering near kelp fronds and rocky structure.
saltwater
Haddock
A slender, silvery-grey relative of the cod, easily recognized by a distinctive black lateral line and a dark thumbprint-like blotch above the pectoral fin.
saltwater
Greenland Shark
A massive, slow-moving Arctic shark believed to be the longest-lived vertebrate on Earth, with lifespans possibly exceeding 250 years.
deepsea