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.

Leopard Shark

Leopard Shark

A slender, boldly patterned houndshark common in shallow California bays, easily recognized by its dark saddle-like blotches and spots.

cartilaginous
Grey Gurnard

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.

saltwater

Herring

One of the world's most abundant fish, the herring forms colossal schools in cold North Atlantic waters and underpins much of the region's marine food web.

pelagic
Gulf Flounder

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.

saltwater
Horse-eye Jack

Horse-eye Jack

A deep-bodied, silvery jack with an oversized eye, commonly seen in large stationary schools around Caribbean and Florida reefs and harbors.

reef
Jacksmelt

Jacksmelt

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

saltwater
King Mackerel

King Mackerel

A large, streamlined mackerel of the warm western Atlantic, prized as a fast offshore game fish and recognizable by its silvery, unmarked body.

pelagic
Great White Shark

Great White Shark

A massive, torpedo-shaped predator found in cool coastal and offshore waters worldwide, easily recognized by its sharp countershading and crescent-shaped tail.

cartilaginous
Glass Knifefish

Glass Knifefish

A slender, near-transparent South American fish that swims using a continuous rippling fin and emits a weak electric field to sense its surroundings.

freshwater
Green Sturgeon

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.

saltwater
Hi Fin Red Banded Goby

Hi Fin Red Banded Goby

A tiny white goby marked with thin red diagonal bands and a tall, flag-like yellow dorsal fin, seen hovering above its burrow that it shares with a snapping shrimp.

reef
Haddock

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.

saltwater
Guitarfish

Guitarfish

A shark-like ray with a flattened, guitar-shaped body that blends features of sharks and rays, common on sandy coastal seabeds of the eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean.

cartilaginous
Firefish

Firefish

The Firefish is a slender, white-to-orange goby-like fish with a tall sail-like dorsal fin, known for hovering above its burrow and darting inside when startled.

reef
Giant Mudskipper

Giant Mudskipper

The largest common mudskipper species, a heavy-bodied, predatory amphibious goby that patrols mangrove mudflats across South and Southeast Asia.

brackish
Green Jack

Green Jack

The Green Jack is a schooling eastern Pacific jack with a greenish-blue back, silvery sides, and yellowish lower fins, common in coastal surface waters.

pelagic
Giant Trevally

Giant Trevally

The largest of the trevallies, a powerful, deep-bodied predator of Indo-Pacific reefs and lagoons known for its steep head profile and ferocious ambush strikes.

reef
Garfish

Garfish

A long, silvery, needle-jawed fish of European coastal waters, instantly recognizable by its bright green backbone and slender, beak-like snout.

pelagic
Gag Grouper

Gag Grouper

The gag grouper is an elongated, grey-brown grouper of the western Atlantic recognized by its faint worm-like markings and slender build compared to other groupers.

reef
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.

saltwater
Featherback Knifefish

Featherback Knifefish

A smaller, unspotted relative of the Clown Knifefish found across South and Southeast Asia, with a humped back and a single long fin running beneath its body.

freshwater
Fangtooth

Fangtooth

The fangtooth is a small, deep-sea fish with the largest teeth relative to body size of any fish, identified by its oversized fangs, armored head, and compact dark body.

deepsea
European Ling

European Ling

A very large, elongated, eel-shaped cod relative found on deep rocky and muddy grounds along the continental shelf edge of the northeastern Atlantic.

deepsea
Dwarf Neon Rainbowfish

Dwarf Neon Rainbowfish

A pint-sized New Guinea rainbowfish and one of the smallest Melanotaenia species, known in the aquarium trade for its saturated blue-violet males.

freshwater