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.
Northern Pike
A long, torpedo-shaped ambush predator with a duck-bill-like snout and light bean-shaped markings, famous for lurking motionless in weeds before striking prey with explosive speed.
freshwater
Pike Livebearer
A large, elongated predatory livebearer from Central America with a pike-like head and mouth built for ambushing small fish.
freshwaterNorthern Kingfish
A slender surf-dwelling drum of the Atlantic coast, marked by bold dark diagonal bars and a distinctive elongated dorsal fin ray.
saltwater
Northern Anchovy
A small, slender schooling fish with a pointed snout and large mouth, abundant along the Pacific coast of North America, where it forms a key part of the California Current forage base.
pelagic
Northern Studfish
A large, robust topminnow of clear, rocky streams in the Ozark and Appalachian interior highlands, with males showing rows of iridescent blue-green spots.
freshwater
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
Northern Pipefish
A slender, bony-ringed relative of the seahorse that drifts vertically among eelgrass along the western Atlantic coast, camouflaged by its stick-like shape.
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
Northern Brook Lamprey
The northern brook lamprey is a small, non-parasitic freshwater lamprey of the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River region, believed to have evolved from a parasitic ancestor but never feeding as an adult.
freshwaterTiger Muskie
A hybrid of northern pike and muskellunge, this elongated apex predator sports bold dark tiger stripes and is prized as one of freshwater's most aggressive game fish.
freshwater
Sauger
A slender, olive-gold relative of the walleye, best known for the rows of black spots on its spiny dorsal fin and its love of murky river currents.
freshwater
Walleye
A slender, golden-olive freshwater predator named for its large, glassy, light-reflective eyes that give it excellent low-light vision for hunting at dusk and in murky water.
freshwater
Pikehead
An elongated, pike-shaped ambush predator from Southeast Asian blackwater swamps, unique among the gourami family as an obligate carnivore that snaps up prey with lightning speed.
freshwater
Pacific Saury
A slender, silvery, beaked schooling fish of the temperate North Pacific, closely related to needlefish, marked by a row of small finlets near its tail.
pelagic
Muskellunge
A large, elongated predatory fish native to North American lakes and rivers, marked by dark vertical bars or spots on a lighter body. It is the largest member of the pike family and a well-known apex freshwater predator.
freshwater
Longnose Gar
A slender, torpedo-shaped freshwater fish with an extremely long, narrow, tooth-lined snout, easily recognized among North American fish by its needle-like jaws.
freshwaterPacific Bluefin Tuna
A massive, warm-bodied tuna capable of ocean-basin migrations across the entire North Pacific, recognized by its deep, torpedo-shaped body and short pectoral fins.
pelagic
Spiny Dogfish
A slender, small schooling shark with sharp spines in front of each dorsal fin and no anal fin, one of the most abundant sharks worldwide.
cartilaginous
Pacific Anchovy
A small, slender schooling fish abundant along the eastern Pacific coast from Canada to Baja California, the Pacific Anchovy is a key forage species known for its long snout and prominent silvery lateral stripe.
pelagic
Lined Seahorse
A medium-sized seahorse of the western Atlantic coast, variably colored from black to bright orange, often marked with fine pale lines on the neck and named for these subtle streaks.
saltwater
Atlantic Bluefin Tuna
A massive, torpedo-shaped, deep blue-backed tuna built for speed and long-distance migration across the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea.
pelagic
Red Snapper
A rosy-red snapper of the Gulf of Mexico and southeastern U.S. coast, recognized by its sloped profile, sharp triangular teeth, and bright red eyes.
reef
Jardini Arowana
A large, metallic-scaled arowana from northern Australia and New Guinea, known for its bronze-green body and upward-facing mouth built for surface feeding.
freshwater
Longtail Tuna
A coastal tuna of the Indo-West Pacific with a notably slender, elongated body and a long, low second dorsal fin, often found closer to shore than other tunas.
pelagic