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.
Raphael Catfish
A hardy South American armored catfish known for the bold cream stripes running along its dark body and its ability to produce audible clicking sounds when handled.
freshwater
Bluestripe Pipefish
The bluestripe pipefish is a tiny reef pipefish with a bright blue lateral stripe running along a tan or orange body, often seen hovering near crevices where it also cleans parasites from larger fish.
reef
Fourstripe Damselfish
A white damselfish marked with three bold black bars plus a black tail, forming a four-banded pattern as it hovers around branching coral on Indo-Pacific reefs.
reef
Skunk Clownfish
A slender, pale peach-to-pink anemonefish marked by a single white stripe running from snout to tail, living in symbiosis with sea anemones on Indo-Pacific reefs.
reef
Maroon Clownfish
The largest and most aggressive anemonefish, with a deep maroon body and bold white or gold bars, fiercely guarding its host anemone.
reef
Bar Jack
A sleek, blue-green jack with a dark stripe along its back and a black-and-white striped tail, common on Caribbean and western Atlantic reefs.
reef
Cardinal Tetra
A tiny, jewel-toned freshwater fish with an iridescent blue stripe running the length of its body above a vivid red stripe below, native to the blackwater tributaries of the Amazon.
freshwater
Sailfin Tang
A striped surgeonfish famous for its oversized, sail-like dorsal and anal fins, common on Indo-Pacific coral reefs.
reef
Pajama Cardinalfish
A small, egg-shaped reef fish with a yellow-striped head and red-spotted rear body, resembling patterned sleepwear.
reef
Jackknife-fish
A boldly black-and-white striped reef drum with a dramatic, curved dorsal fin that resembles the blade of an open jackknife.
reef
Slippery Dick
A common small western-Atlantic wrasse with two dark lateral stripes and a small dark spot at the tail base.
reef
Kole Tang
A compact, striped surgeonfish with a golden eye-ring, using bristle-like teeth to sweep detritus from reef rock.
reef
Frontosa
A striking striped cichlid from Lake Tanganyika, notable for the bulging cranial hump adult males develop above their eyes.
freshwater
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
Ornate Butterflyfish
A showy Indo-Pacific butterflyfish with diagonal orange stripes across a white body and black-and-yellow face bands.
reef
Bumblebee Fish
A tiny, boldly banded goby popular in brackish aquariums, named for its wasp-like black-and-yellow stripes.
brackish
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
High-hat
A striking black-and-white striped reef drum related to the jackknife-fish, easily recognized by its tall, elongated dorsal fin.
reef
Penguin Tetra
An Amazonian characin recognized by its bold black tail stripe and unusual head-up swimming posture resembling a penguin's stance.
freshwater
Chum Salmon
A large, widely distributed Pacific salmon known for the bold calico-patterned stripes and blotches that spawning adults develop along their flanks.
freshwater
Zebra Shark
A slender, docile reef shark whose striped juveniles transform into leopard-like spotted adults, unmistakable due to its very long tail.
reef
Rummynose Tetra
A slender silvery tetra known for its bright red-orange snout and a bold black-and-white striped tail, prized for tight, synchronized shoaling.
freshwater
Randall's Goby
A small, striped shrimp goby that shares a burrow with a pistol shrimp, hovering nearby to pick zooplankton from the water column while watching for danger.
reef
Golden Wonder Killifish
A golden-orange color form of the striped panchax, this hardy topminnow patrols the water's surface hunting insects and small fish in South Asian wetlands.
freshwater