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.
Montezuma Swordtail
A Mexican livebearer notable for the male's exceptionally long, trailing sword-shaped tail extension, among the longest relative to body size of any swordtail.
freshwater
Mbu Pufferfish
The Mbu Pufferfish is the largest freshwater pufferfish species, native to Central Africa's Congo River system and known for its maze-like yellow body markings.
freshwater
Ocean Sunfish
The ocean sunfish is the heaviest bony fish alive, a flattened giant with no true tail that drifts through temperate and tropical seas feeding on jellyfish.
pelagic
Greenland Halibut
A cold-water, deep-sea North Atlantic and Arctic flatfish with a dark body on both sides, a large toothy mouth, and a less flattened posture than typical flounders.
deepsea
Iridescent Shark
Despite its name, this is a large freshwater catfish, not a shark, recognized in juveniles by an iridescent sheen and dark stripes that fade with age.
freshwater
Great Sculpin
One of the largest sculpin species, with a heavily armored, spiny head and mottled brown body, found along rocky and muddy bottoms of the cold North Pacific.
saltwater
Green Moray Eel
The Green Moray Eel is a large Atlantic reef eel whose apparent green color actually comes from a yellow mucus layer coating its naturally blue-grey skin.
reef
Fathead Minnow
A small, hardy North American minnow famous as baitfish and a standard toxicology test species, able to survive low-oxygen, turbid water most fish avoid.
freshwater
European Flounder
The European flounder is a right-eyed flatfish notable for its unusual tolerance of low salinity, regularly venturing far up rivers and estuaries.
brackish
Combtail Gourami
A robust Sri Lankan gourami named for the comb-like fringe along its dorsal, anal, and tail fins, more aggressive and predatory than most smaller gourami relatives.
freshwater
Bumblebee Goby
The Bumblebee Goby is a tiny, boldly banded fish resembling its namesake insect, found in brackish mangrove and estuarine waters of Southeast Asia.
brackish
Bull Rout
Known as the shorthorn sculpin elsewhere, the Bull Rout is a camouflaged, spiny-headed fish common in cold North Atlantic tide pools and rocky shores.
saltwater
Copper Rockfish
A coppery-brown rockfish with a pale pink-white band along the back half of its body, commonly found near rocky structure and eelgrass beds close to shore.
saltwater
Black Sea Bream
A deep-bodied porgy of the Mediterranean and Eastern Atlantic, notable for males that excavate and guard nest depressions on the seabed during spawning.
saltwater
Bastard Halibut
An alternate name for the olive flounder, a large East Asian coastal flatfish with a muscular olive-brown mottled body, big toothy mouth, and left-sided eyes.
saltwater
Barramundi Cod
The Australian common name for the panther grouper, a pale gray, black-spotted reef grouper instantly recognizable by its small head and steeply humped forehead.
reef
Barbour's Seahorse
A small, spiny-crowned seahorse native to the coral reefs and seagrass beds of the western Pacific, distinguished by fine dark banding along its snout.
reef
Lyretail Killifish
A slender, non-annual West African killifish named for the male's elegant lyre-shaped tail, ranging in color from golden-orange to deep red across its native populations.
freshwater
Hatchetfish
Hatchetfish are small, silvery deep-sea fish named for their laterally compressed, blade-like body and large upward-pointing tubular eyes adapted to detect faint light above.
deepsea
Wideband Clownfish
A dark brown-to-black anemonefish with a single thick white band across the mid-body, restricted to temperate-edge reefs around Lord Howe Island, eastern Australia, and New Caledonia.
reef
Fingerfish
Another common name for the disc-shaped Mono, called Fingerfish for its thin, laterally compressed body. It schools in Indo-Pacific estuaries and coastal waters, flashing bright silver as it moves.
brackish
Yellowtail Flounder
A slender northwest Atlantic flatfish recognized by the rusty-yellow tint along its tail edge, reddish-brown upper body, and preference for sandy continental shelf bottoms.
saltwaterBluestripe Fangblenny
An elongated blenny with a blue-and-black striped body that mimics cleaner wrasse to approach unsuspecting fish, using enlarged fangs to nip scales, mucus, or tissue before darting away.
reef
Titan Triggerfish
The Titan Triggerfish is the largest triggerfish species, recognized by its olive-yellow body, pale moustache stripe, and famously territorial nest-guarding behavior on Indo-Pacific reefs.
reef