Fish Identifier

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.

Little Skate

Little Skate

A small, common skate of the northwest Atlantic continental shelf, widely used in biological research and frequently caught as bycatch in coastal trawls.

cartilaginous
Gulf Flounder

Gulf Flounder

A left-eyed flatfish common along the Gulf of Mexico and southeastern Atlantic coast, marked by three distinctive eyespots arranged in a triangle.

saltwater
King Mackerel

King Mackerel

A large, streamlined mackerel of the warm western Atlantic, prized as a fast offshore game fish and recognizable by its silvery, unmarked body.

pelagic
Common Skate

Common Skate

One of the largest skates in the world, now Critically Endangered after severe historical overfishing across its North Atlantic range.

cartilaginous

Fourwing Flyingfish

A true "four-winged" flyingfish with both enlarged pectoral and pelvic fins, allowing exceptionally long surface glides across the tropical Atlantic Ocean.

pelagic

Naked Sole

A small, scaleless western Atlantic and Gulf sole with smooth skin, fine dark wavy crossbands, and a habit of burying in clean sand on the continental shelf.

saltwater
Mangrove Snapper

Mangrove Snapper

A grayish snapper common along mangrove shorelines and estuaries of the western Atlantic, showing a faint dark stripe through the eye and a pointed, angular head.

brackish
Lemon Sole

Lemon Sole

A thick-bodied northeastern Atlantic flatfish with smooth, slippery, mottled reddish-brown skin, a small mouth, and a preference for firm sand or gravel seabeds.

saltwater
Cubbyu

Cubbyu

A small, deep-bodied drum with a tall dorsal fin and faint dark stripes, often seen hovering near reef ledges in the western Atlantic.

reef
European Conger

European Conger

A large, powerfully built grey eel that shelters in rocky crevices and shipwrecks across the Northeast Atlantic and Mediterranean, among the largest eel species in the region.

saltwater
Bull Rout

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
Common Pandora

Common Pandora

The common pandora is a slender pink sparid of the Mediterranean and eastern Atlantic, typically found over sandy and muddy bottoms where it feeds on small invertebrates.

saltwater
Bar Jack

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
Bogue

Bogue

The bogue is a slender, silvery schooling sparid common throughout the Mediterranean and eastern Atlantic, feeding on plankton, algae, and small invertebrates in open coastal water.

saltwater
Bandwing Flyingfish

Bandwing Flyingfish

A small, slender flyingfish of the tropical Atlantic, identified by the dark crossbands on its otherwise translucent pectoral wing fins as it glides over the open sea.

pelagic
Shanny

Shanny

The most common rockpool blenny of the northeastern Atlantic, the Shanny is a stout, big-eyed fish that tolerates the harsh, fluctuating conditions of the intertidal zone.

saltwater
Sarpa Salpa

Sarpa Salpa

The sarpa salpa, or salema porgy, is a silvery sparid with golden stripes that grazes on algae over Mediterranean and eastern Atlantic reefs and seagrass beds.

reef
Red Drum

Red Drum

The Red Drum is a coppery-bronze coastal fish of the western Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico, best known for the dark eyespot near its tail.

brackish
Pouting

Pouting

Also called bib, the Pouting is a deep-bodied, coppery-bronze gadoid common around rocky reefs and wrecks of the northeastern Atlantic and Mediterranean.

saltwater
Northern Wolffish

Northern Wolffish

The largest wolffish species, the Northern Wolffish is a plain grey-brown, deep-water predator of the North Atlantic and Arctic with powerful crushing jaws.

deepsea
Dog Snapper

Dog Snapper

A robust, coppery-red Western Atlantic snapper named for its prominent canine teeth, identified by a pale triangular patch beneath the eye.

reef
Common Dragonet

Common Dragonet

A sand-dwelling northeastern Atlantic fish with striking sexual dimorphism, males growing a dramatically elongated dorsal fin and long tail streamers.

saltwater
American Plaice

American Plaice

A right-eyed flounder of the cold North Atlantic, identifiable by its rough scales, curved lateral line, and reddish-brown upper body.

saltwater
Warsaw Grouper

Warsaw Grouper

A massive, deep-dwelling western Atlantic grouper with a dark brownish-red body, oversized head, and a second dorsal spine noticeably longer than the others.

deepsea