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.
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
Sea Lamprey
The sea lamprey is a primitive, jawless, eel-like fish famous for its parasitic sucker-disc mouth ringed with sharp teeth, which it uses to latch onto and feed on other fish.
saltwater
Dragon Moray
One of the most ornately marked moray eels, easily recognized by its long tubular nostrils resembling horns and a striking mottled orange, white, and black pattern that has made it a favorite subject for underwater photographers.
reef
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
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
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
Banded Knifefish
An elongated, eel-like South American fish that generates weak electric fields to navigate and communicate in murky water.
freshwater
Zebra Moray
The Zebra Moray is a striped Indo-Pacific reef eel with blunt, peg-like teeth specialized for crushing crabs, mollusks, and sea urchins.
reef
American Brook Lamprey
The American brook lamprey is a small, non-parasitic freshwater lamprey found in clean streams across eastern North America, closely related to the Arctic lamprey but never feeding once it reaches adulthood.
freshwaterSnyder's Moray
A little-seen, plain brownish moray restricted to deep rocky reefs off California and Baja California, rarely encountered due to its preference for depths well beyond typical diving range.
reefSpotted Moray
A pale, leopard-patterned eel of Caribbean and western Atlantic reefs, its cream body densely covered in dark brown blotches that give it a mottled, sponge-like appearance.
reef
Silver Lamprey
The silver lamprey is a freshwater parasitic lamprey of central and eastern North America, recognized by its single-cusped teeth and silvery body, native to Great Lakes and Mississippi River basin drainages.
freshwaterRock Gunnel
A slender, eel-like intertidal fish of the North Atlantic, the Rock Gunnel hides under rocks and seaweed and is marked by a row of pale-ringed spots along its dorsal fin.
saltwater
Atlantic Hagfish
The Atlantic hagfish is a primitive, eel-like, jawless scavenger known for producing enormous quantities of defensive slime and for its ability to feed inside the carcasses of dead or dying animals on the seafloor.
deepsea
Senegal Bichir
An elongated, primitive-looking freshwater fish with a row of small spiny finlets along its back and paired lung-like breathing organs, retaining features from ancient ray-finned fish ancestors.
freshwater
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
Bichir
The bichir is a primitive, air-breathing freshwater fish of African rivers and swamps, genus Polypterus, known for its snake-like armored body and spiny dorsal finlets.
freshwater
Neon Damselfish
A small, brilliant iridescent blue damselfish with a touch of yellow on the tail, commonly seen in loose groups over rubble and coral on Indo-Pacific reefs.
reef
Allen's Damselfish
A slender, iridescent blue damselfish with a bright yellow tail, native to reefs of the Coral Triangle and known for its striking two-tone coloration.
reef
Whitespotted Moray
A brown moray eel densely covered in small, evenly spaced white spots, commonly seen with its head poking from crevices on shallow Indo-Pacific coral reefs.
reef
Speckled Moray
A pale, densely speckled moray of Indo-Pacific reef flats, its white to cream body peppered with small black spots that thicken toward the tail.
reef
Snowflake Moray
The Snowflake Moray is a mottled black-and-yellow reef eel with blunt, crushing teeth adapted for feeding on crabs and shrimp rather than fish.
reef
Pacific Hagfish
The Pacific hagfish is a jawless, eel-shaped deep-sea scavenger of the eastern Pacific known for releasing thick defensive slime and for feeding on carcasses on the ocean floor.
deepsea
Northern Brook Lamprey
The northern brook lamprey is a small, non-parasitic freshwater lamprey of the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River region, believed to have evolved from a parasitic ancestor but never feeding as an adult.
freshwater