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.
Achilles Tang
A striking black surgeonfish with a bold orange-red teardrop marking near its tail and matching scalpel-like tail spine. It inhabits high-surf reef zones across the Pacific.
reef
Alaska Pollock
An abundant, silvery schooling fish of the cold North Pacific and Bering Sea, closely related to Atlantic Cod and among the most numerous commercially significant fish in the world.
saltwaterSpeckled Flounder
A small, left-eyed flatfish of the tropical eastern Pacific, named for the fine speckled pattern covering its upper body.
saltwater
Spotted Gar
A slender North American gar covered in dark spots from head to tail, often seen basking near the surface of quiet, weedy waters.
freshwater
Spotted Wolffish
A large, deep-water wolffish covered in bold dark spots, found in cold Arctic and North Atlantic waters on rocky and gravel seafloor.
deepsea
Shortnose Gar
A slim-bodied gar of the Mississippi basin with the shortest, broadest snout of the North American gars, sparsely marked with dark spots.
freshwater
Permit
A deep-bodied, silvery flats and reef fish of the western Atlantic, famed among anglers for its wary nature and sickle-shaped fins.
reef
Panda Corydoras
A small, pale armored catfish with bold black patches around the eyes and tail, resembling its namesake in miniature form.
freshwater
Mandarinfish
A tiny, vividly patterned reef fish covered in a maze-like network of blue, orange, and green, prized as one of the most colorful fish in the ocean.
reef
Fiji Blue Devil
A striking blue-headed, yellow-bodied damselfish endemic to the coral reefs of Fiji and nearby South Pacific islands.
reef
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.
saltwater
Dolly Varden
A char of Pacific coastal rivers named for a colorfully dressed Dickens character, closely related to and often confused with Arctic Char.
freshwater
Banded Knifefish
An elongated, eel-like South American fish that generates weak electric fields to navigate and communicate in murky water.
freshwater
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
European Eel
The European Eel is a catadromous fish found across European rivers and lakes, now critically endangered after a population collapse exceeding 90% since the 1980s.
freshwater
Topsmelt
A slender, silvery schooling fish common in bays, estuaries, and kelp beds along the eastern Pacific coast, often seen shoaling near the surface in large numbers.
saltwater
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.
pelagic
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
Eyestripe Surgeonfish
An Indo-Pacific tang with fine blue pencil-lines over a yellow-brown body and a distinctive yellow stripe through the eye; notably long-lived, reaching nearly 30 years.
reef
White Sturgeon
The white sturgeon is the largest freshwater fish in North America, an armored, long-snouted giant found in Pacific coast rivers from California to British Columbia.
freshwater
Dojo Loach
An elongated, whiskered East Asian loach, sold in the aquarium and pond trade under the Japanese name 'dojo,' known for burrowing in soft mud and tolerating cold water.
freshwater
Chinese High-Fin Banded Shark
Despite its name, the Chinese High-Fin Banded Shark is not a shark at all but a large freshwater sucker native to China's Yangtze River basin, known for its tall sail-like dorsal fin.
freshwaterWitch Flounder
A slender, tongue-shaped deep-water North Atlantic flatfish with plain grayish-brown coloration, fine scales, and a preference for cold muddy shelf and slope bottoms.
deepsea
Yucatan Molly
A large sailfin livebearer native to the coastal waters of the Yucatan Peninsula, known for the male's dramatically tall, sail-like dorsal fin used in courtship.
brackish