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.
Pike Livebearer
A large, elongated predatory livebearer from Central America with a pike-like head and mouth built for ambushing small fish.
freshwater
Nile Perch
A large, silvery-grey freshwater predator with a distinctive dark eye and deep body, native to major African river systems and infamous for its ecological impact after introduction to Lake Victoria.
freshwater
Prickly Sculpin
A large freshwater sculpin of Pacific coast rivers and lakes, named for the tiny prickle-like scales scattered along its sides, and among the largest members of its genus.
freshwater
Pristella Tetra
A translucent, pale-golden tetra whose semi-transparent body reveals internal structures, marked by distinctive black-and-yellow fin patches.
freshwater
Ocellate River Stingray
A striking South American freshwater stingray with bold eyespot-like rings across its disc, common in the Amazon and Paraná river basins and popular in the aquarium trade.
freshwater
Otocinclus
A tiny suckermouth catfish that spends most of its time grazing algae and biofilm from surfaces in slow-moving South American waters.
freshwater
Neon Tetra
A tiny schooling characin from Amazonian blackwater streams, instantly recognized by its glowing blue-green stripe and bright red lower body, one of the most popular aquarium fish ever kept.
freshwater
Ohio Lamprey
The Ohio lamprey is a parasitic, jawless fish native to medium and large rivers of the eastern United States, attaching to host fish with a toothed sucking disc to feed.
freshwater
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
Ohrid Trout
The Ohrid Trout is a salmonid endemic to Lake Ohrid on the border of North Macedonia and Albania, found nowhere else on Earth and now critically endangered in the wild.
freshwater
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
Odessa Barb
A small, vividly colored barb popularized in the aquarium trade, the Odessa barb's males show a brilliant red mid-body stripe against silvery-gold flanks, especially intense during courtship displays.
freshwater
Ornate Bichir
A striking Central African freshwater fish with an eel-like body covered in an intricate leopard-spot network pattern and a row of spiny finlets along its back.
freshwater
Oscar
A large, intelligent South American cichlid known for its bold personality, striking mottled coloration, and a dark false eyespot near the base of its tail.
freshwater
Pink Salmon
The smallest and most abundant Pacific salmon, notable for its strict two-year life cycle and the pronounced dorsal hump males develop when spawning.
freshwater
Platy
A small, compact livebearer native to Mexico and Central America, the platy is prized for its bright colors, peaceful nature, and ease of breeding in home aquariums.
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.
freshwater
Pygmy Swordtail
One of the smallest members of the swordtail genus, this diminutive Mexican livebearer lacks the elongated tail sword typical of its larger relatives.
freshwater
Loach Goby
The Loach Goby is an elongated, flat-bodied fish that clings to rocks in fast-flowing Indo-Pacific streams, combining goby and loach-like features.
freshwater
Japanese Eel
The Japanese Eel is an East Asian catadromous fish that migrates from freshwater rivers to offshore Pacific spawning grounds, and is now classified as Endangered.
freshwater
Rainbow Trout
A popular salmonid native to Pacific-drainage rivers of North America and Asia, known for its silvery body, dark spotting, and the broad pink-red stripe that gives the species its name.
freshwater
Palon Killifish
A small East African annual killifish in the genus Nothobranchius, with males displaying coppery orange-red coloring and blue speckling. It inhabits temporary coastal pools tied to seasonal rains.
freshwater
Lake Wanam Rainbowfish
A deep-bodied rainbowfish endemic to the small crater Lake Wanam in Papua New Guinea, with males showing rich orange-red body coloration.
freshwater
Pearl Gourami
A peaceful Southeast Asian labyrinth fish prized for its lace-like pearly pattern and a black stripe running from snout to tail, with males showing an orange throat and breast.
freshwater
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
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
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
Panda Corydoras
A small, pale armored catfish with bold black patches around the eyes and tail, resembling its namesake in miniature form.
freshwater
Keyhole Cichlid
A calm, mild-mannered South American cichlid named for the distinctive dark keyhole-shaped blotch on its flank, this species is known for its subdued coloration and unusually peaceful temperament.
freshwater
Mozambique Tilapia
A hardy, deep-bodied cichlid native to southeastern Africa, the Mozambique tilapia tolerates a huge range of salinities and temperatures and has become one of the world's most widely introduced freshwater fish.
freshwater
Merry Widow
A small, peaceful Central American livebearer with a translucent grayish body and a distinctive dark spot near the gill cover, popular among hobbyists for decades.
freshwater
Moonlight Gourami
A sleek, silvery-green Mekong basin gourami with an iridescent sheen and vivid orange-red pelvic fin filaments, notably lacking the dark body spots seen in many related species.
freshwater
Mahseer
A powerful, large-scaled carp of fast Himalayan rivers, the golden mahseer is prized as one of the hardest-fighting freshwater fish, with a thick, muscular body built for holding in strong current.
freshwater
Mekong Giant Catfish
One of the largest freshwater fish on Earth, this critically endangered giant inhabits the deep main channel of the Mekong River and undertakes long spawning migrations.
freshwater
Mexican Tetra
A resilient silvery tetra native to Texas and Mexico, renowned for cave populations that lost their eyes and pigment through evolution in total darkness.
freshwater
Madagascar Rainbowfish
An elongated, silvery rainbowfish from Madagascar's eastern rainforest rivers, recognized by its bold black-edged yellow and red fin markings.
freshwater
Marbled Lungfish
The largest of the African lungfish, marked with a dark mottled pattern, capable of surviving prolonged drought buried in a mucus-lined mud burrow.
freshwater
Mottled Sculpin
A small, mottled brown freshwater sculpin found in clear, cold streams and lakes across North America, identified by its large head, wide pectoral fins, and lack of scales.
freshwater
Marble Trout
Marble trout are a large, distinctively patterned native trout of the Balkan Peninsula, named for the marbled, olive-and-brown pattern covering their body, and are now considered vulnerable due to hybridization with introduced brown trout.
freshwater
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
Madtom
A small North American freshwater catfish that hides under rocks by day and carries venomous pectoral and dorsal spines used defensively when handled or threatened.
freshwater
Least Brook Lamprey
The least brook lamprey is one of the smallest lamprey species in North America, a non-parasitic freshwater fish found in small streams of the central and southeastern United States.
freshwater
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.
freshwaterLeopard Danio
A spotted color morph of the Zebrafish, the Leopard Danio trades horizontal stripes for a striking pattern of dark spots across a golden body.
freshwater
Lake Trout
A large, deep-lake char native to cold northern North American waters, marked by pale spots on a dark greenish-gray body and a deeply forked tail. It typically inhabits the coldest, deepest zones of large lakes.
freshwater
Nile Tilapia
A deep-bodied African cichlid with bold stripes on its tail fin, the Nile tilapia is one of the world's most widely distributed freshwater fish through aquaculture and introductions.
freshwater
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
Molly
A hardy, adaptable livebearer native to Mexico and Central America, the common molly thrives in fresh, brackish, and even marine water and is one of the most popular beginner aquarium fish.
freshwater