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.
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
Sailfin Snapper
The sailfin snapper is a striking Indo-Pacific reef fish with blue diagonal stripes, yellow fins, and a tall, flowing dorsal fin, often seen over sand patches near coral reefs.
reef
Clown Tang
A vividly striped surgeonfish with alternating blue, black, and yellow horizontal lines, one of the most aggressively territorial herbivores on shallow Indo-Pacific reef crests.
reef
Sixline Soapfish
A dark brown-black Indo-Pacific reef fish marked with six pale horizontal stripes, known for secreting a bitter, toxic skin mucus as a defense mechanism.
reef
Reticulated Hillstream Loach
The Reticulated Hillstream Loach is a flat, disc-shaped fish from Vietnamese mountain streams, patterned with an intricate net-like design and adapted to cling to rocks in swift current.
freshwater
Bluebanded Sea Bream
An Indo-Pacific reef fish, actually a snapper, marked by diagonal electric-blue bands on yellow and trailing fin filaments in adults.
reef
Denison Barb
A striking torpedo-shaped barb endemic to fast hill streams of India's Western Ghats, known for its bold red-black-yellow stripe and endangered status.
freshwater
Alligator Gar
A massive, armor-scaled freshwater fish with a broad alligator-like snout lined with two rows of sharp teeth, among the largest freshwater fish in North America.
freshwater
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
Malabar Grouper
The Malabar grouper is a large, olive-grey Indo-Pacific grouper covered in dark blotches and small pale spots, found across coastal reefs, estuaries, and mangrove-lined coasts.
reef
Northern Pipefish
A slender, bony-ringed relative of the seahorse that drifts vertically among eelgrass along the western Atlantic coast, camouflaged by its stick-like shape.
saltwater
Leafy Seadragon
An extraordinary seahorse relative covered in ornate leaf-shaped appendages, camouflaging almost perfectly among the kelp and seaweed beds of southern Australia.
reef
Marbled Lungfish
The largest of the African lungfish, marked with a dark mottled pattern, capable of surviving prolonged drought buried in a mucus-lined mud burrow.
freshwater
Weedy Seadragon
A slender, reddish-purple relative of the seahorse decorated with small leaf-like fin projections and yellow stripes, found along the temperate reefs of southern Australia.
reef
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
Java Rabbitfish
A greenish-brown rabbitfish patterned with fine wavy vermiculated markings, commonly found in mangrove-lined estuaries and brackish coastal waters of the Indo-Pacific.
brackish
Deep-sea Lizardfish
A hardy abyssal ambush predator that rests motionless on the deep seafloor, using a large tooth-lined mouth to seize whatever prey passes close by.
deepsea
Freshwater Drum
The Freshwater Drum is the only entirely freshwater member of the drum family, recognized by its humpbacked silvery body and tail-extending lateral line.
freshwater
Longnose Gar
A slender, torpedo-shaped freshwater fish with an extremely long, narrow, tooth-lined snout, easily recognized among North American fish by its needle-like jaws.
freshwater
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
Needlefish
The common name for slender, surface-dwelling fish of the family Belonidae, recognized by long jaws lined with sharp teeth; the Needlefish (*Strongylura marina*) represents this widespread predatory group.
saltwater
Fangtooth Moray
A slender reef-dwelling moray with strongly curved jaws lined with long, protruding fangs that prevent the mouth from ever fully closing, giving it a permanently menacing gape.
reef
Pollack
Pollack is a streamlined cod relative of the northeastern Atlantic, found around rocky reefs and wrecks, identified by its curved lateral line and protruding lower jaw with no barbel.
saltwater
Leerfish
A powerful surf-zone predator of the eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean, known as garrick in South Africa and unique among jacks for its smooth, scute-free lateral line.
pelagic