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.
Red-eye Tetra
A hardy, wide-ranging South American characin identified by its striking red iris band and bold black-and-white marked tail base.
freshwater
Red Phantom Tetra
A blackwater Orinoco characin with a rosy translucent body and bold black shoulder mark, known for its tall, flag-like dorsal fin in males.
freshwater
Pacific Red Snapper
A bright reddish-pink snapper of rocky reefs along the Eastern Pacific coast from Mexico to Peru, closely resembling its Atlantic namesake but found in a different ocean.
reefTwo-spot Red Snapper
The two-spot red snapper, or bohar snapper, is a large, deep red Indo-Pacific reef predator, sometimes showing two pale saddle spots on the back, and an important predator on coral reef slopes.
reef
Hi Fin Red Banded Goby
A tiny white goby marked with thin red diagonal bands and a tall, flag-like yellow dorsal fin, seen hovering above its burrow that it shares with a snapping shrimp.
reef
Rock Cod
Rock cod is a common name for numerous Sebastes rockfish species found on rocky Pacific reefs, identified by their deep, spiny-finned body and mottled camouflage coloration.
saltwater
Nassau Grouper
A stocky Caribbean reef grouper known for its ability to rapidly change color and pattern, from pale to dark barred phases, and for forming large seasonal spawning aggregations now heavily protected.
reef
Gag Grouper
The gag grouper is an elongated, grey-brown grouper of the western Atlantic recognized by its faint worm-like markings and slender build compared to other groupers.
reef
Marbled Grouper
The marbled grouper is an uncommon western Atlantic reef fish with a distinctive dark, marbled or streaked pattern that gives way to a dark 'charcoal' belly, often seen near caves and drop-offs.
reef
Bocaccio
A large, streamlined rockfish with a prominent lower jaw and reddish-brown to olive coloring, once heavily depleted along the Pacific coast and now the focus of long-term rebuilding efforts.
saltwater
Striped Bass
A large, silvery, hard-fighting bass marked with bold black stripes, native to the Atlantic coast and now widely established in freshwater reservoirs across North America.
brackish
Pacu
A large Amazon and Orinoco characin related to piranhas but herbivorous, identified by its reddish belly and flattened, fruit-crushing teeth.
freshwater
Rosy Barb
A hardy, active barb whose silvery body flushes rosy pink to red during breeding condition, especially pronounced in males.
freshwater
Rex Sole
A slender, deep-dwelling northeastern Pacific flatfish notable for unusually long pectoral fins and plain light brown coloration on cold continental shelf and slope bottoms.
deepsea
Snapper
A robust, reef-dwelling fish with a reddish-pink body and striking red eyes, common over rocky bottoms, reefs, and wrecks throughout the Gulf of Mexico and western Atlantic.
reef
Redfish
A coppery-bronze estuarine predator famous for the large black eyespot near its tail, the Redfish is a mainstay of shallow coastal flats along the Gulf and southeastern Atlantic coasts.
brackish
Redtail Splitfin
A colorful Mexican goodeid livebearer, with males showing a vivid orange-red tail band contrasting a steel-blue body, popular in the aquarium trade.
freshwater
Redeye Bass
A small, stream-dwelling black bass named for its bright red eyes, native to rocky, fast-flowing rivers of the southeastern Appalachian foothills.
freshwater
Piranha
A deep-bodied South American river fish famed for its sharp interlocking teeth and coordinated group feeding behavior, though most species are opportunistic scavengers.
freshwater
Redtail Catfish
A large South American river catfish easily recognized by its dark body, cream underside, and vivid orange-red tail fin.
freshwater
Sockeye Salmon
A Pacific salmon renowned for its brilliant crimson spawning coloration and strong dependence on lake habitat during its freshwater juvenile stage.
freshwater
Redlip Halfbeak
A slender coastal halfbeak with a needle-thin lower jaw tipped in vivid red, gliding in small schools over shallow tropical Indo-Pacific waters.
saltwater
Redtail Notho
A small East African annual killifish from Zanzibar, prized for the male's vivid red, black-edged tail. It lives in temporary rain pools and survives the dry season as drought-resistant eggs buried in mud.
freshwater
Thick-lipped Gourami
A small, hardy Myanmar labyrinth fish closely related to the Dwarf Gourami, distinguished by its noticeably thickened lips and reddish-blue diagonal banding in breeding males.
freshwater