Fish Identifier

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.

all freshwater saltwater reef pelagic cartilaginous deepsea brackish

Megrim

A slender, left-eyed flatfish of the Northeast Atlantic and Mediterranean, valued commercially and recognizable by its thin, elongated body and large mouth.

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.

Halfbeak

The common name for slender, surface-swimming fish of the family Hemiramphidae, marked by a short upper jaw and a long, needle-like lower jaw; the Common Halfbeak represents the group.

Gulf Kingfish

The palest and most silvery of the surf kingfishes, found in wave-swept sandy beaches from the mid-Atlantic to the Gulf of Mexico.

Grunt Sculpin

A small, oddly shaped sculpin with an elongated, beak-like snout and orange-and-brown striped body, famous for mimicking the appearance of an empty giant acorn barnacle shell.

Grey Gurnard

A bottom-dwelling gurnard with an armored, pale-spotted grey-brown back and large bluish pectoral fins, common across sandy shelf waters of Europe.

Green Wrasse

A slender Mediterranean wrasse, often green to brownish, associated with seagrass meadows and rocky reefs.

Greenland Cod

The Greenland cod is a stocky, cold-adapted cod relative found in shallow coastal Arctic waters around Greenland and eastern Canada, distinguished by its deep body and short head.

Hake

A slender, silvery predatory fish with a large toothy mouth and two widely separated dorsal fins, Hake patrol continental shelf waters of the northeastern Atlantic and Mediterranean.

Hardhead Catfish

A common western Atlantic sea catfish with a bony plate on its head, short barbels, and a mouthbrooding reproductive strategy shared with related sea catfish.

Lemon Sole

A thick-bodied northeastern Atlantic flatfish with smooth, slippery, mottled reddish-brown skin, a small mouth, and a preference for firm sand or gravel seabeds.

Gulf Flounder

A left-eyed flatfish common along the Gulf of Mexico and southeastern Atlantic coast, marked by three distinctive eyespots arranged in a triangle.

Jacksmelt

A larger, long-bodied silverside found along the California and Baja coasts, often schooling in bays and nearshore waters alongside the smaller Topsmelt.

Kelp Rockfish

A mottled brown-and-olive rockfish closely tied to kelp forest habitat along the California coast, where its coloring provides camouflage among kelp stipes and rocky understory.

Inshore Hagfish

Inshore Hagfish

The inshore hagfish is a jawless, slime-producing scavenger found burrowing in muddy coastal seabeds off Japan, Korea, and China, closer to shore than most other hagfish species.

Keeltail Needlefish

Keeltail Needlefish

A slender needlefish easily identified by the raised keel-like ridge on either side of its tail base, found cruising the surface of warm coastal waters worldwide.

Green Sturgeon

The green sturgeon is the most marine-adapted North American sturgeon, ranging widely along the Pacific coast and entering rivers only occasionally to spawn.

Houndfish

A large, elongated needlefish with a crocodile-like beak of sharp teeth, found cruising just below the surface of warm coastal waters worldwide in search of small fish.

Immaculate Puffer

Immaculate Puffer

A plain, unmarked Indo-Pacific puffer with a smooth grayish-brown body, subtle pale belly, and dark rings around the eyes, often found over sandy and muddy coastal habitats.

Hardyhead Silverside

Hardyhead Silverside

A robust, silvery schooling fish common in shallow lagoons and reef flats across the Indo-Pacific, identified by its broad head and prominent silver midline stripe.

Kelp Bass

The kelp bass is a mottled olive-brown temperate reef fish closely tied to kelp forests along the eastern Pacific coast, often seen hovering near kelp fronds and rocky structure.

Florida Pompano

Florida Pompano

A deep-bodied, silvery fish with a forked tail and yellow-tinged fins, common in sandy surf zones along the western Atlantic coast.

Haddock

A slender, silvery-grey relative of the cod, easily recognized by a distinctive black lateral line and a dark thumbprint-like blotch above the pectoral fin.

Goldsinny Wrasse

Goldsinny Wrasse

A small reddish-brown wrasse marked by a black tail-base spot, the Goldsinny Wrasse patrols rocky Atlantic reefs and is known for picking parasites off other fish.

Gilthead Bream

A deep-bodied Mediterranean and Eastern Atlantic sparid named for the golden band across its forehead. A euryhaline species that moves between coastal reefs and brackish lagoons.

Flat Needlefish

Flat Needlefish

A laterally flattened needlefish with a ribbon-like cross-section, patterned with dark blotches along its silvery flanks, found worldwide in warm coastal and offshore surface waters.

Flounder

A flatfish with both eyes on its upper side that lies camouflaged against sandy or muddy bottoms, ambushing small fish and invertebrates that pass overhead.

Grass Rockfish

A stocky, olive-green rockfish adapted to very shallow rocky habitats and tide pools, among the most tolerant rockfish species of low-oxygen, wave-exposed environments.

Great Sculpin

One of the largest sculpin species, with a heavily armored, spiny head and mottled brown body, found along rocky and muddy bottoms of the cold North Pacific.

Gafftopsail Catfish

Gafftopsail Catfish

A silvery Atlantic sea catfish named for the tall, sail-like extension of its first dorsal fin ray and long trailing pectoral fin filaments.

Fantail Sole

A right-eyed Pacific flatfish named for its broadly rounded, fan-like tail, common on sandy bottoms from California to Baja California.

Fugu

The Tiger Puffer, an East Asian coastal pufferfish capable of rapid inflation, with internal organs containing the potent biological toxin tetrodotoxin as a natural defense.

Greater Pipefish

Greater Pipefish

One of Europe's largest pipefish, the Greater Pipefish is a long, tube-snouted relative of the seahorse found among seagrass and rocky shallows from Scandinavia to the Mediterranean.

Galapagos Shark

Galapagos Shark

A large, robust gray shark commonly encountered around remote oceanic islands, closely resembling the Dusky and Silky Sharks but slightly stockier.

European Conger

European Conger

A large, powerfully built grey eel that shelters in rocky crevices and shipwrecks across the Northeast Atlantic and Mediterranean, among the largest eel species in the region.

European Plaice

European Plaice

European plaice is a right-eyed flatfish easily recognized by the vivid orange spots scattered across its smooth brown upper side.

European Hake

The European hake is a large, slender Gadiform predator of northeastern Atlantic and Mediterranean shelf waters, identifiable by its sharp-toothed jaws, two dorsal fins, and complete absence of a chin barbel.

European Sea Bass

European Sea Bass

The European sea bass is a sleek, silvery predator common along European and North African coasts, prized by anglers as a hard-fighting sport fish.

Dwarf Seahorse

One of the smallest seahorse species in the world, standing barely a few centimeters tall and clinging to seagrass blades in shallow waters of the southeastern United States and Bahamas.

Dusky Shark

A large, robust requiem shark found along continental coastlines worldwide, notable for its slow growth and long-distance migrations.

Dog Salmon Herring

Dog Salmon Herring

Despite the name, this is the chum salmon, nicknamed 'dog salmon' for its prominent canine-like spawning teeth — a true Pacific salmon, not a herring.

Cunner

A small, cold-hardy wrasse with highly variable coloring, found on rocky reefs and kelp beds along the western Atlantic and known for becoming dormant in winter.

Cusk

The cusk is a solitary, eel-like member of the cod family found on deep rocky bottoms of the North Atlantic, recognized by its single long dorsal fin and thick lips.

Copper Rockfish

Copper Rockfish

A coppery-brown rockfish with a pale pink-white band along the back half of its body, commonly found near rocky structure and eelgrass beds close to shore.

Brill

Brill is a left-eyed flatfish closely related to turbot, distinguished by its more elongated oval body, smooth scaled skin, and mottled brownish camouflage pattern.

Bonefish

A silvery, torpedo-shaped fish of shallow tropical flats, nicknamed the 'grey ghost' for its uncanny ability to vanish against sandy bottoms.

Common Sole

The common sole is a slender, right-eyed flatfish of European coastal waters, recognizable by its elongated oval body and small, curved mouth adapted for nighttime foraging.

China Rockfish

Easily recognized by a bold yellow stripe running down its black body, the China rockfish is a small, secretive reef dweller of the northeastern Pacific.