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 Reef Chromis
A slender, brilliant blue schooling fish commonly seen hovering in large numbers above coral reef outcrops throughout the Caribbean and western Atlantic.
reef
Black Drum
The Black Drum is a deep-bodied, greyish-black sciaenid with distinctive chin barbels, found in estuaries and coastal waters from the mid-Atlantic to Argentina.
brackish
Yellow Jack
A reef-associated western Atlantic jack easily recognized by the bright yellow wash on its fins and tail, often seen patrolling reef edges in small schools.
reef
Tautog
A large, robust, dark-mottled wrasse tied closely to rocky reefs and wrecks along the western Atlantic coast, known for its powerful shellfish-crushing jaws.
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
Saithe
The saithe, or coalfish, is a dark, streamlined Gadidae found in North Atlantic coastal and offshore waters, recognized by its near-black coloring and preference for open midwater schooling.
pelagic
Rock Cook
A tiny olive-brown wrasse of northeastern Atlantic kelp reefs, the Rock Cook forages among rocks and crevices and can change sex during its lifetime.
saltwater
Northern Sea Robin
A bottom-dwelling western Atlantic fish with an armored head and huge wing-like pectoral fins, using leg-like fin rays to walk across the seafloor.
saltwater
Mutton Snapper
A rosy-pink Western Atlantic reef snapper marked by blue eye-lines and a small black spot below the dorsal fin, with elegantly pointed fin tips.
reef
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
Lesser Amberjack
A small, deep-dwelling jack of the western Atlantic, distinguished from its larger amberjack relatives by its modest size and life around offshore reefs and wrecks.
saltwater
Gilthead Bream
A deep-bodied Mediterranean and Eastern Atlantic sparid named for the golden band across its forehead. A euryhaline species that moves between coastal reefs and brackish lagoons.
saltwater
European Pilchard (Sardine)
A small, silvery schooling fish found along the eastern Atlantic coast and throughout the Mediterranean, forming vast shoals that graze on plankton near the surface of coastal waters.
pelagic
Cuckoo Wrasse
A vividly patterned wrasse of the Northeast Atlantic and Mediterranean, with males displaying bold blue and orange stripes and females a softer pink patterned with black-edged white spots.
reef
Cero Mackerel
A slender, fast-swimming mackerel of Caribbean and western Atlantic waters, identified by a bronze-yellow stripe and rows of yellow-orange spots along its silvery sides.
pelagic
Blue Runner
A slender, greenish-blue jack common along the western Atlantic coast, often called the hardtail and known for its schooling habits and role as forage for larger predators.
pelagic
Bagre Catfish
A silvery marine and estuarine catfish of the western Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico, recognizable by its elongated sail-like dorsal fin filament and mouth-brooding parenting behavior.
saltwater
Pacific Herring
A slender, silvery schooling fish closely related to the Atlantic Herring, found in cold coastal waters across the North Pacific, where it forms a critical forage base for fish, seabirds, and marine mammals.
pelagicSouthern Blue Whiting
The southern blue whiting is a slender, schooling Gadidae found in cold Southern Hemisphere waters around South America and New Zealand, closely resembling its North Atlantic relative but occupying entirely separate populations.
pelagic
Yellow Stingray
A small, boldly patterned stingray of the western Atlantic and Caribbean, often seen resting on sand near coral reefs and seagrass beds in shallow, clear water.
reef
Tomtate
A small silvery grunt common over reefs and hard-bottom habitats of the western Atlantic, recognized by a dark blotch near the base of its tail fin.
reef
Shortnose Sturgeon
The shortnose sturgeon is a small, endangered anadromous fish of eastern North America, distinguished from its larger Atlantic sturgeon relative by a shorter, blunter snout.
brackish
Sheepshead Minnow
A stocky, deep-bodied pupfish tolerant of extreme salinity swings, common in salt marshes and tidal creeks along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts of North America.
brackish
Lumpfish
Also called the lumpsucker, the Lumpfish is a rounded, scaleless North Atlantic fish that anchors to rocks with a sucker disc, and whose males guard the eggs after spawning.
saltwater