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.

White Grunt

White Grunt

A stout, silvery reef fish with a bright orange-red mouth lining, known for the grinding sound it makes with its pharyngeal teeth.

reef
Japanese Anchovy

Japanese Anchovy

A small, abundant schooling fish found throughout the coastal waters of Japan, Korea, and China, the Japanese Anchovy is one of the most heavily fished species in the western Pacific and a vital link in regional marine food webs.

pelagic
American Flagfish

American Flagfish

A stocky, deep-bodied killifish native to Florida, named for the red-and-blue striped, star-marked flank pattern of breeding males reminiscent of a flag.

freshwater
Ocellaris Clownfish

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
Longnose Butterflyfish

Longnose Butterflyfish

A bright yellow butterflyfish with a greatly elongated snout used to pluck small invertebrates from reef crevices. It is one of the most widespread and recognizable butterflyfish across the Indo-Pacific.

reef
Far Eastern Brook Lamprey

Far Eastern Brook Lamprey

A small, jawless, non-parasitic lamprey native to clear freshwater streams across Japan, Korea, and mainland East Asia, spending most of its life as a burrowing larva before a brief non-feeding adult stage.

freshwater
Warmouth

Warmouth

A stocky, big-mouthed sunfish with red eyes and dark cheek streaks, at home in weedy, sluggish waters and swamps of the eastern United States.

freshwater
Firemouth Cichlid

Firemouth Cichlid

A Central American cichlid famous for the fiery red-orange throat it flares open to intimidate rivals during territorial disputes.

freshwater
Glowlight Tetra

Glowlight Tetra

A slender, translucent tetra marked by a bright iridescent orange-red stripe running the length of its body, giving it a luminous glow effect.

freshwater
Tomato Clownfish

Tomato Clownfish

A deep-bodied, orange-red anemonefish with a single white head bar, living in close partnership with a host sea anemone.

reef
Speckled Hind

Speckled Hind

A reddish-brown to blackish western Atlantic grouper densely covered in small pale blue-white spots, giving rise to its nickname the "strawberry grouper."

deepsea
Pallid Sturgeon

Pallid Sturgeon

The pallid sturgeon is a large, pale, endangered fish of the Missouri and Mississippi rivers, adapted to fast, turbid water with a flattened snout and reduced eyes.

freshwater
Fairy Wrasse

Fairy Wrasse

A dazzling small reef wrasse in which males flash iridescent shades of red, purple, and blue during courtship displays over coral rubble and reef slopes.

reef
Green Neon Tetra

Green Neon Tetra

A Rio Negro blackwater characin closely related to the Neon Tetra, identified by its shimmering blue-green stripe and limited rear-body red coloration.

freshwater
Coral Grouper

Coral Grouper

The coral grouper is a vivid orange-red reef fish covered in small electric-blue spots, commonly seen darting among coral heads across the Indo-Pacific.

reef
Common Roach

Common Roach

A widespread European freshwater fish with a silvery body and distinctive red-orange fins, forming large shoals in slow rivers, lakes, and canals.

freshwater
Freshwater Archerfish

Freshwater Archerfish

The largest and most freshwater-tolerant of the archerfish, marked by scattered dark spots rather than bold bars. It uses the same precise water-spitting technique as its relatives to knock insects from overhanging vegetation.

freshwater
Golden Trout

Golden Trout

One of the most brilliantly colored freshwater fish in North America, native to a small area of high-elevation streams in California's Sierra Nevada, marked with vivid golden-orange flanks and crimson stripes.

freshwater
Flame Hawkfish

Flame Hawkfish

A brilliant red-orange reef fish that perches motionless atop branching coral, darting out to ambush small prey.

reef
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
Waspfish

Waspfish

A camouflaged, spiny bottom-dweller with fan-like pectoral fins and a mottled reddish-brown pattern, resting on sand or rubble near reefs across the Indo-Pacific.

saltwater
Smalltooth Sawfish

Smalltooth Sawfish

A Critically Endangered ray-relative with a long, tooth-lined saw-like snout, once common in warm western Atlantic coastal waters but now greatly reduced in range.

cartilaginous
Paradise Fish

Paradise Fish

A hardy East Asian labyrinth fish with vivid blue-and-red banded flanks and flowing fins, historically one of the first ornamental fish kept in Western aquariums.

freshwater
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