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.
Largemouth Bass
A robust, olive-green freshwater fish with a distinctive dark lateral stripe and a very large mouth, one of North America's most popular sport fish now established worldwide.
freshwater
Leopard Wrasse
A small, strikingly patterned reef wrasse covered in a dense network of dark-edged spots, often seen hovering low over sand near coral heads while foraging for tiny invertebrates.
reef
Longhorn Sculpin
A large, spiny-headed sculpin common on sandy and rocky seafloors along the northwest Atlantic coast, easily recognized by its oversized head and fan-like pectoral fins.
saltwater
Lane Snapper
A small, silvery-pink schooling snapper marked by faint yellow stripes and a black spot near the tail base, common across shallow Western Atlantic reefs and seagrass.
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
Fugu
The Tiger Puffer, an East Asian coastal pufferfish capable of rapid inflation, with internal organs containing the potent biological toxin tetrodotoxin as a natural defense.
saltwater
Gardner's Killifish
A small, brilliantly colored non-annual killifish from West African forest streams, with males showing an iridescent steel-blue body dotted with red spots and a lyre-shaped tail.
freshwater
Cutthroat Trout
A native western North American trout named for the distinctive red-orange slash marks under its jaw, found in an array of subspecies across cold streams and mountain lakes.
freshwater
Emperor Cichlid
The largest cichlid species in the world, the emperor cichlid grows to nearly a meter long in the deep waters of Lake Tanganyika and is notable for spawning only once before dying shortly after.
freshwater
Chestnut Lamprey
The chestnut lamprey is a freshwater parasitic lamprey of central North America named for its reddish-brown coloration, native to Mississippi and Great Lakes basin rivers and lakes.
freshwater
Common Sole
The common sole is a slender, right-eyed flatfish of European coastal waters, recognizable by its elongated oval body and small, curved mouth adapted for nighttime foraging.
saltwater
Blue Ling
A slender, deep-water relative of the cod, the Blue Ling lives along northeastern Atlantic continental slopes and forms dense spawning aggregations at specific deep-sea sites.
deepsea
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
Chain Moray
A dark, boldly patterned moray with a yellow chain-like network across its body, often seen in shallow tide pools and rocky Caribbean shorelines even outside water at low tide.
reef
Catfish
A vast, worldwide group of scaleless, whisker-faced bottom-dwelling fish; the channel catfish, one of the most familiar North American species, is shown here as representative.
freshwater
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.
cartilaginousBigfin Squid Fish
Despite the common name, this is not a true fish but a rarely filmed deep-sea cephalopod, famous for extraordinarily long elbowed arms trailing beneath a small gelatinous body.
deepsea
Banded Rainbowfish
A highly variable, boldly patterned rainbowfish from northeastern Australia, often showing multiple dark horizontal stripes and vivid regional color forms.
freshwater
Bay Pipefish
The bay pipefish is a long, slender pipefish common in eelgrass beds and estuaries along the Pacific coast of North America, closely matching the green-brown color and shape of the eelgrass blades it hides among.
brackish
Banded Killifish
A slender, silvery killifish common in vegetated lakes and slow streams of eastern North America, marked with numerous thin dark vertical bars along its flanks.
freshwater
Allis Shad
A large anadromous herring relative native to Europe's Atlantic coast, the Allis Shad spends most of its life at sea but migrates into large rivers each spring to spawn, forming runs that have been much reduced.
brackish
Asian Swamp Eel
A slender, limbless, snake-like eel native to rice paddies and marshes of East and Southeast Asia, known for its air-breathing ability and its establishment as an introduced species in parts of the southeastern United States.
freshwater
Atlantic Mackerel
A fast-swimming schooling fish with iridescent blue-green wavy stripes across its back, found in cold and temperate waters on both sides of the North Atlantic.
pelagic
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