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.
Ocellaris Clownfish
A small orange-and-white clownfish that lives in a mutualistic partnership with sea anemones on Indo-Pacific reefs. It is one of the most familiar reef fish species due to its bright coloring and anemone-dwelling behavior.
reef
Clarkii Clownfish
A hardy, variably colored anemonefish found across the widest range of any clownfish species, typically dark brown-orange with three white bars, and known for hosting in many different anemone species.
reef
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
Squarespot Anthias
A schooling Indo-Pacific anthias; territorial males display a bold rectangular magenta-purple patch on an orange body, while females stay uniformly peach-colored.
reef
Sprat
A small, slender schooling herring relative found in vast numbers along European coasts, the Sprat is an important forage fish that filters plankton from the water column in dense, fast-moving shoals.
pelagic
Chinese Catfish
A hardy, air-breathing catfish native to southern China and neighboring regions, well adapted to shallow, oxygen-poor waters like rice paddies and slow streams.
freshwater
Scaled Sardine
A small, deep-bodied silvery fish that forms dense inshore schools along the Western Atlantic coast, easily confused with other small herring-like species.
saltwater
Cisco
Cisco, also known as lake herring, are slender silvery relatives of whitefish that form large open-water schools in the cold lakes of the northern United States and Canada, feeding mainly on plankton.
freshwater
West African Lungfish
An eel-shaped African lungfish able to survive months of drought by burrowing into mud and forming a protective cocoon while it aestivates.
freshwater
Spinner Shark
A slender, high-speed coastal shark famous for leaping and spinning out of the water while lunging through schools of baitfish.
saltwater
Yellow Watchman Goby
A bright yellow burrowing goby that forms a cooperative partnership with pistol shrimp, sharing a burrow while acting as lookout for the nearly blind shrimp.
reef
Pelagic Stingray
A uniquely oceanic stingray that never touches the seabed, drifting through warm and temperate seas worldwide while feeding on squid and small fish.
pelagic
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
Blacktip Shark
A fast, energetic coastal shark named for the black tips on most of its fins, often seen leaping and spinning while chasing schooling fish.
saltwater
Bumphead Parrotfish
The largest parrotfish species in the world, recognized by the massive bony hump on its forehead, used to headbutt corals while feeding in large, roving schools.
reef
Roosterfish
An unmistakable eastern Pacific game fish named for the tall comb-like spines of its dorsal fin, which it raises above the water while hunting.
saltwater
Watchman Goby
The Watchman Goby is a bright yellow burrow-dwelling fish that forms a cooperative partnership with a pistol shrimp, hovering guard duty at the burrow entrance while the shrimp maintains the tunnel.
reef
Ribbon Eel
The Ribbon Eel is a slender, brightly colored moray that changes from a black juvenile to a blue male to a yellow female over its lifetime while anchored in a sand burrow.
reef
Dragon Wrasse
A reef wrasse whose juveniles mimic drifting algae with wild fin extensions, while adults become stout, green-bodied rock-flippers that hunt buried invertebrates.
reef
Cubera Snapper
The largest snapper in the Atlantic, a heavy-bodied reef predator with oversized canine teeth. Adults hold near deep ledges and wrecks, while juveniles grow up in mangrove nurseries.
reef
Opaline Gourami
A marbled blue-and-silver color variety of the Three Spot Gourami, bred for its swirling opalescent pattern while retaining the same hardy biology and behavior as the wild form.
freshwaterSkipjack Shad
A slender, fast-swimming river herring native to major drainages of central and eastern North America, the Skipjack Shad is known for leaping clear of the water while pursuing prey near the surface.
freshwater
Pacific Blackdragon
An eel-like deep-sea dragonfish whose females are entirely jet-black with a long chin barbel, while the tiny, non-feeding males look almost nothing like them.
deepsea
African Pompano
A deep-bodied jack whose juveniles trail extraordinarily long fin filaments while drifting near floating debris, maturing into steep-headed adults over deep reefs and wrecks.
pelagic