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.
Ringtail Surgeonfish
A blue-grey Indo-Pacific tang identified by the narrow white ring encircling its tail base; common on coral and rocky reefs from East Africa to Hawaii.
reef
Rock Beauty Angelfish
A vividly two-toned Caribbean angelfish with a bright yellow front half, a black rear body, and blue-edged fins, commonly seen darting among reef crevices and ledges.
reef
Reef Shark
A common, streamlined shark patrolling Indo-Pacific coral reefs, recognized by its broad black-edged tail fin and stout gray body.
reef
Scopas Tang
A deep-bodied, disc-shaped surgeonfish usually seen in muted brown to gray tones, valued on reefs and in aquariums alike as an efficient, hardy algae grazer.
reef
Reef Stonefish
The reef stonefish is the classic, rock-mimicking stonefish of coral reef flats, considered one of the most venomous fish in the sea and virtually invisible against reef rubble.
reef
Royal Gramma
The Royal Gramma is a small Caribbean reef fish with a sharp two-tone body: violet-purple in front, golden yellow behind. It shelters upside down in caves and crevices along steep reef walls.
reef
Round Ribbontail Ray
One of the largest reef-associated stingrays, recognized by its dark blotchy pattern and thick tail, commonly seen resting on sand patches near coral reefs across the Indo-Pacific.
reef
Scooter Dragonet
A small, mottled reef-associated dragonet that rests on sand near coral reefs and moves in short scooting hops rather than continuous swimming.
reef
Redtooth Triggerfish
The Redtooth Triggerfish is a deep blue-green triggerfish often seen schooling in large numbers over reef drop-offs, feeding on plankton in the open water column.
reef
Saddleback Clownfish
A dark, saddle-marked clownfish that shelters among the tentacles of large sea anemones on sandy reef slopes and lagoons across the Indo-Pacific.
reef
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
Sebae Clownfish
A dark brown clownfish with a bold yellow tail and two white body bars, native to reefs of the northern Indian Ocean and closely tied to the sebae sea anemone.
reef
Redlip Blenny
A dark, elongated blenny with a distinctive bright red-orange lip, common on shallow Caribbean and western Atlantic reef edges where it grazes algae from rock and coral.
reef
Sailfin Tang
A striped surgeonfish famous for its oversized, sail-like dorsal and anal fins, common on Indo-Pacific coral reefs.
reef
Seahorse
An unmistakable upright-swimming fish with a horse-like head and curled prehensile tail, notable for males carrying and giving birth to offspring.
reef
Scrawled Filefish
The Scrawled Filefish is a large, thin-bodied filefish covered in unique blue and black scribbled lines and spots, found drifting near reefs in tropical seas worldwide.
reef
Red Grouper
The red grouper is a heavy-bodied, reddish-brown reef fish common on rocky and coral bottoms of the Gulf of Mexico and western Atlantic, known for excavating shallow depressions in sediment.
reef
Randall's Goby
A small, striped shrimp goby that shares a burrow with a pistol shrimp, hovering nearby to pick zooplankton from the water column while watching for danger.
reef
Pygmy Angelfish
A tiny deep-blue western-Atlantic dwarf angelfish with a bright yellow-orange face.
reef
Queen Angelfish
The Queen Angelfish is a large, vividly colored Caribbean reef fish with a blue-green body, yellow-rimmed scales, and a distinctive blue-ringed crown spot on its forehead.
reef
Porcupinefish
A spine-covered, inflatable reef fish found in warm seas worldwide; nocturnal and slow-moving, it shelters in reef crevices by day and forages for hard-shelled prey at night.
reef
Queen Parrotfish
A blue-green Caribbean parrotfish with a bold yellow band across the snout, commonly seen grazing algae along reef slopes and flats throughout the region.
reef
Sheepshead Bream
The sheepshead bream, or white seabream, is a silvery sparid marked by dark vertical bars and a black tail-base spot, common over rocky reefs and seagrass in the Mediterranean and eastern Atlantic.
reef
Pink Skunk Clownfish
A pale pink anemonefish with a single white stripe running down its back, found living among sea anemones on reefs across the Indo-Pacific.
reef
Robust Ghost Pipefish
The robust ghost pipefish is the largest species in its family, with a plainer, leaf-like body that mimics drifting seagrass, algae, or sargassum rather than the frillier crinoid-mimicking patterns of its relatives.
reef
Ruby Seadragon
The ruby seadragon is a rare, deep-dwelling relative of the leafy and weedy seadragons discovered in 2015 off Western Australia. Unlike its relatives, it lacks leaf-like appendages and has a distinctive reddish body.
reef
Reef Needlefish
A long, slender, silvery needlefish with elongated toothy jaws, commonly seen cruising just below the surface over Indo-Pacific coral reefs and reef flats.
reef
Pearlscale Butterflyfish
A western-Pacific butterflyfish with a cross-hatched pearly body and a bright orange rear and tail.
reef
Ribbon Eel
The Ribbon Eel is a slender, brightly colored moray that changes from a black juvenile to a blue male to a yellow female over its lifetime while anchored in a sand burrow.
reef
Passer Angelfish
An eastern-Pacific angelfish with a dark blue body, a single white vertical bar, and a yellow tail.
reef
Neon Goby
A tiny reef fish with an electric blue stripe running nose to tail, best known for cleaning parasites off larger reef fish.
reef
Regal Tang
An unmistakable royal-blue surgeonfish with a black palette pattern and bright yellow tail, popularized worldwide as the character Dory, commonly seen darting among branching corals.
reef
Reef Croaker
A coppery-golden drum associated with Caribbean coral reefs, unusual among croakers for its strong reef affinity rather than open sand or mud habitat.
reef
Ringed Pipefish
The ringed pipefish is an alternate name for the vividly banded Dunckerocampus dactyliophorus, named for the many bold rings encircling its slender body from head to its yellow, black-spotted tail fin.
reef
Panther Grouper
An unmistakable Indo-Pacific grouper with a pale gray body covered in round black spots, a small head, and a distinctive humped, sloping forehead profile.
reef
Pacific Red Snapper
A bright reddish-pink snapper of rocky reefs along the Eastern Pacific coast from Mexico to Peru, closely resembling its Atlantic namesake but found in a different ocean.
reef
Percula Clownfish
A bright orange anemonefish with three bold white bars outlined in black, famous for its symbiotic partnership with sea anemones on western Pacific reefs.
reef
Pufferfish
A slow-swimming reef fish famous for inflating its body into a spiny ball when threatened, using a fused beak-like set of teeth to feed on hard-shelled invertebrates and algae.
reef
Peacock Flounder
A tropical Atlantic flatfish famous for rapid color-changing camouflage and a pattern of small blue rings on a sandy brown body, with both eyes clustered on its upper left side.
reef
Pennant Coralfish
A black-and-white butterflyfish relative known for its long pennant-like dorsal filament, often mistaken for a juvenile Moorish idol as it drifts in loose reef aggregations.
reef
Moray Eel
A long, serpentine reef predator that hides in crevices by day, identified by its scaleless body, continuous fin along the back, and powerful jaws with a rarely seen second set of pharyngeal jaws.
reef
Marbled Grouper
The marbled grouper is an uncommon western Atlantic reef fish with a distinctive dark, marbled or streaked pattern that gives way to a dark 'charcoal' belly, often seen near caves and drop-offs.
reef
Pajama Cardinalfish
A small, egg-shaped reef fish with a yellow-striped head and red-spotted rear body, resembling patterned sleepwear.
reef
Potato Grouper
The potato grouper is one of the largest reef groupers, a pale grey fish covered in dark blotches resembling potato skin, found on Indo-Pacific reefs and known for its curious, approachable behavior toward divers.
reef
Peacock Grouper
The peacock grouper is a dark-bodied reef predator patterned with bright blue spots and pale bars, native to the Indo-Pacific and introduced to Hawaiian waters.
reef
Racoon Butterflyfish
An Indo-Pacific butterflyfish with a black 'mask' over the eyes bordered by white and a broad yellow body.
reef
Palette Surgeonfish
The vivid blue-and-black Blue Tang, famous for its palette-shaped markings and bright yellow tail; an Indo-Pacific coral reef species that feeds mainly on drifting plankton rather than algae.
reef
Potter's Angelfish
A small Hawaiian endemic dwarf angelfish, rusty orange with blue-grey and fine wavy blue lines.
reef