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.
Yellowfin Tuna
A sleek, fast-swimming tuna named for its long, bright yellow dorsal and anal fins, found in tropical and subtropical oceans worldwide.
pelagic
Yellowtail
A streamlined, silvery jack with a distinctive yellow stripe running along its flanks and a yellow tail, found in temperate coastal waters worldwide.
pelagicWhite Marlin
A slender, fast-swimming billfish of the tropical and temperate Atlantic, known for its rounded fins and vivid blue-white coloration.
pelagic
Tuna
A fast, powerfully built open-ocean fish capable of high-speed sustained swimming, ranging across warm and temperate seas worldwide in large migratory schools.
pelagic
Yellowtail Amberjack
A powerful, streamlined jack marked by a bold yellow lateral stripe and yellow tail, roaming temperate and subtropical waters worldwide around reefs, wrecks, and open water.
pelagic
Wahoo
One of the fastest fish in the ocean, the Wahoo is a slender, torpedo-shaped predator with iridescent blue-green tiger stripes, found in warm seas worldwide.
pelagic
Tropical Two-wing Flyingfish
A stocky, oceanic flyingfish found in warm seas worldwide, using only its large pectoral fins as wings to glide over the waves while its short pelvic fins remain small.
pelagic
Walleye Pollock
Walleye pollock is an abundant, schooling cod relative of the North Pacific, identified by its slender silvery body, speckled back, protruding lower jaw, and forked tail.
pelagic
Spanish Sardine
A schooling pelagic fish found throughout warm Atlantic and Mediterranean waters, the Spanish Sardine is larger than the related European Sardine and forms an important forage species across its wide tropical to subtropical range.
pelagic
Southern Bluefin Tuna
A large, deep-bodied tuna of the Southern Hemisphere's open oceans, distinguished by very short pectoral fins and a single spawning ground south of Indonesia.
pelagicTadpole Cod
The tadpole cod is a tiny, translucent Gadiform fish named for its tadpole-like shape, found in warm surface waters worldwide and distinguished by its thread-like forward pelvic fins.
pelagic
Striped Marlin
A swift, streamlined billfish famous for its tall, sail-like blue dorsal fin and rows of pale vertical stripes, ranging widely through the Pacific and Indian Oceans as a top offshore predator.
pelagic
Swordfish
A large, powerful open-ocean predator identified by its long, flat sword-like bill, capable of deep dives and high-speed pursuit of prey.
pelagic
Slender Tuna
The slender tuna is a slim-bodied, planktivorous tuna of cool temperate southern seas, distinguished from other tunas by its narrow build and diet of small crustaceans.
pelagicBluntnose Flyingfish
A small flyingfish with a short, blunt snout and large wing-like pectoral fins, gliding above the open tropical Atlantic.
pelagicFourwing Flyingfish
A true "four-winged" flyingfish with both enlarged pectoral and pelvic fins, allowing exceptionally long surface glides across the tropical Atlantic Ocean.
pelagic
Spanish Mackerel
A slender, fast-swimming mackerel of the western Atlantic, easily identified by rows of bright yellow-gold spots scattered along its silvery flanks.
pelagic
Sprat
A small, slender schooling herring relative found in vast numbers along European coasts, the Sprat is an important forage fish that filters plankton from the water column in dense, fast-moving shoals.
pelagic
Spotfin Flyingfish
A slender, dark-backed flyingfish with long, spotted pectoral "wings" that let it glide above the ocean surface to escape predators. Common throughout tropical and warm-temperate seas worldwide.
pelagic
Salmon Shark
A powerful, warm-bodied mackerel shark closely related to the Porbeagle, built for speed in the cold North Pacific and named for its preference for salmon.
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
Pilotfish
A boldly barred open-ocean jack famous for closely trailing sharks and other large marine animals for shelter and feeding opportunities.
pelagic
Skipjack Tuna
A small, fast-swimming tuna with bold dark stripes along its lower body, forming enormous schools across warm oceans and supporting the world's largest tuna fishery.
pelagic
Peruvian Anchoveta
A small, slender schooling fish found in colossal numbers within the nutrient-rich Humboldt Current off Peru and Chile, considered one of the most abundant fish species on Earth.
pelagic
Silky Shark
A slender, deep-water pelagic shark with smooth, silky-textured skin, among the most abundant sharks found around tropical open-ocean waters.
pelagic
Shortbill Spearfish
A slender billfish with an unusually short bill relative to its body, found in warm offshore waters worldwide and considered the smallest of the true spearfish.
pelagic
Sailfish
One of the fastest fish in the ocean, instantly recognizable by its towering, sail-like dorsal fin and elongated spear-like upper jaw used to slash through schools of prey.
pelagic
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.
pelagicSailfin Flyingfish
A small, two-winged flyingfish with a tall, sail-like dorsal fin and blunt snout, found gliding over warm coastal and offshore surface waters worldwide.
pelagic
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
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.
pelagicPacific Menhaden
A deep-bodied, silvery schooling fish found along the Pacific coast of South America, marked by a row of dark spots along its flank and adapted to feeding within the highly productive Humboldt Current upwelling system.
pelagic
Pacific Mackerel
A schooling pelagic fish of the eastern Pacific with an iridescent blue-green back marked by irregular dark bars and scattered spots along its lower flanks.
pelagicPacific 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
Round Herring
Named for its unusually rounded, cylindrical body, the Round Herring is a schooling coastal pelagic fish found in temperate and subtropical seas worldwide, serving as an important forage species for larger predators.
pelagicRibbon Halfbeak
An extraordinarily thin, ribbon-shaped halfbeak of the open ocean, with a long needle-like lower jaw and greatly elongated fins that let it skitter and glide across the surface.
pelagicPacific Sardine
A silvery, spot-flanked schooling fish found along the Pacific coast of North America, famous for boom-and-bust population cycles driven by shifting ocean temperatures and historically massive coastal schools.
pelagic
Oceanic Whitetip Shark
A robust open-ocean shark identified by its large, rounded, white-mottled fins, once one of the most abundant pelagic sharks but now heavily depleted across tropical open oceans worldwide.
pelagic
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
Narrow-barred Spanish Mackerel
A large, fast-swimming mackerel of the Indo-Pacific marked by numerous narrow, wavy dark bars running down its silvery sides.
pelagic
Mediterranean Flyingfish
The most common flyingfish of the Mediterranean Sea, with long, mottled pectoral fins and a slender body built for gliding above coastal pelagic waters.
pelagic
Margined Flyingfish
A large flyingfish with dark, blue-margined wing-like pectoral fins that glides across open tropical and subtropical seas.
pelagic
Rainbow Runner
A slender, torpedo-bodied jack with two vivid blue-green stripes, found roaming warm oceans worldwide, often trailing larger pelagic fish like tuna and sharks.
pelagic
Pelagic Stingray
A uniquely oceanic stingray that never touches the seabed, drifting through warm and temperate seas worldwide while feeding on squid and small fish.
pelagic
Pacific Jack Mackerel
A silvery, schooling open-water fish of the eastern Pacific, marked by a full ridge of bony scutes along its sides and an ecologically vital role as forage for larger predators.
pelagic
Pacific Hake
The Pacific hake is a slender, migratory relative of true cod found throughout the northeastern Pacific, easily told apart by its two dorsal fins, sharp-toothed jaws, and complete lack of a chin barbel.
pelagic
Indo-Pacific Sailfish
The Indo-Pacific sailfish is a large, streamlined billfish famed for its towering, sail-like dorsal fin and status as one of the fastest fish in the ocean.
pelagicIndian Oil Sardine
A small, oil-rich pelagic fish abundant along India's western coast and the wider northern Indian Ocean, the Indian Oil Sardine forms massive schools and is one of the region's most heavily monitored fisheries species.
pelagic