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.

Palette Surgeonfish

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
Ocellaris Clownfish

Ocellaris Clownfish

A small orange-and-white clownfish that lives in a mutualistic partnership with sea anemones on Indo-Pacific reefs. It is one of the most familiar reef fish species due to its bright coloring and anemone-dwelling behavior.

reef
Potato Grouper

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
Japanese Anchovy

Japanese Anchovy

A small, abundant schooling fish found throughout the coastal waters of Japan, Korea, and China, the Japanese Anchovy is one of the most heavily fished species in the western Pacific and a vital link in regional marine food webs.

pelagic
Green Scat

Green Scat

A green-toned color variant of the Spotted Scat, with the same deep, disc-shaped body but a more uniform olive-green wash and lighter spotting. Found in the same brackish estuaries and harbors across the Indo-Pacific.

brackish
Harlequin Tuskfish

Harlequin Tuskfish

A vividly colored wrasse with a turquoise-blue body crossed by orange bars and prominent protruding tusk-like teeth used to crush hard-shelled prey. It inhabits coral-rich reef slopes across the western Pacific.

reef
Cherry Salmon

Cherry Salmon

The cherry salmon is a Pacific salmon native to East Asia that exists in two forms: a smaller freshwater-resident form called yamame and a larger, silvery sea-run form, both named for the pink cherry-blossom hue of spawning fish.

freshwater
Spotted Scat

Spotted Scat

A deep-bodied, disc-shaped fish covered in dark spots over an olive-to-silver background, common in Indo-Pacific estuaries and harbors. Its bold pattern and spiny dorsal fin make it easy to pick out among schooling brackish fish.

brackish

Bigfin Squid Fish

Despite the common name, this is not a true fish but a rarely filmed deep-sea cephalopod, famous for extraordinarily long elbowed arms trailing beneath a small gelatinous body.

deepsea