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.
Foureye Butterflyfish
A Caribbean butterflyfish with a large false eyespot near the tail and a real eye hidden by a dark bar.
reef
Bicolor Blenny
A small reef blenny sharply split into a dark front half and bright orange rear half, sheltering in rubble crevices.
reef
Princess Parrotfish
A Caribbean parrotfish whose blue-green terminal males show bright orange and blue face stripes over a green body.
reef
Horn Shark
A small, harmless bottom shark with heavy brow ridges and two sharp dorsal spines, common along the California coast.
cartilaginous
Japanese Halfbeak
A slim, silvery surface fish with a long lower jaw, common in coastal and brackish waters around Japan, Korea, and China.
brackish
Corkwing Wrasse
A small, colorful European wrasse identified by a dark comma-shaped spot behind the eye and a dark blotch on the tail base.
saltwater
Bumblebee Fish
A tiny, boldly banded goby popular in brackish aquariums, named for its wasp-like black-and-yellow stripes.
brackish
Yellow Longnose Butterflyfish
A bright yellow Indo-Pacific butterflyfish with a very long tweezer-like snout and a black eyespot near the tail.
reefWhite Weakfish
A slender, pale silvery-white weakfish common in estuaries and coastal lagoons along the South American Atlantic coast.
brackishBlood Parrot Cichlid
A rounded, vivid orange-red hybrid cichlid recognized by its permanently small, beak-like mouth and stubby, rounded fins.
freshwater
Ornate Butterflyfish
A showy Indo-Pacific butterflyfish with diagonal orange stripes across a white body and black-and-yellow face bands.
reef
Lemon Tetra
A pale yellow tetra from the Amazon basin, easily recognized by its lemon-tinted body and black-edged anal fin bordered in yellow.
freshwater
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
Dwarf Lionfish
A compact, mottled lionfish with broad fan-like fins and venomous spines, ambushing prey on Indo-Pacific reefs.
reef
Delhezi Bichir
A boldly barred Congo Basin fish with a series of dark vertical bands along its yellow-tan body and a row of spiny finlets along its back.
freshwater
Yellowfin Croaker
A silvery drum common in Pacific surf zones, recognized by faint diagonal lines along its flanks and yellow-tinted fins.
saltwater
Von Rio Tetra
A small, fiery-red tetra native to coastal rivers near Rio de Janeiro, notable for two dark shoulder spots and deep red hindquarters.
freshwater
Tiger Shovelnose Catfish
A large South American river catfish with a distinctive flattened, shovel-shaped snout and bold black stripes across a pale body.
freshwater
Tropical Gar
A large-bodied gar native to Central American rivers and lakes, with a broad snout and faint dark spotting on its rear body and fins.
freshwater
Spanish Hogfish
A colorful western-Atlantic wrasse with a purple-blue upper front and yellow rear, and a well-known juvenile cleaning habit.
reef
Silver Tip Tetra
A bronze-bodied Brazilian characin notable for lacking an adipose fin and for its bright white-tipped fins, active in fast-moving shoals.
freshwater
Silver Perch
The Silver Perch is a small, bright silvery sciaenid common in seagrass and oyster reef habitats along the U.S. Atlantic and Gulf coasts.
brackish
Reef Shark
A common, streamlined shark patrolling Indo-Pacific coral reefs, recognized by its broad black-edged tail fin and stout gray body.
reef
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