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.
Magnificent Rabbitfish
A striking white rabbitfish patterned with bold black head markings and a black-edged dorsal fin, giving it a panda-like appearance among the more brightly colored reef rabbitfishes.
reef
Madagascar Rainbowfish
An elongated, silvery rainbowfish from Madagascar's eastern rainforest rivers, recognized by its bold black-edged yellow and red fin markings.
freshwater
Moorish Idol
An unmistakable disc-shaped reef fish with bold black-white-yellow bands and a dramatically long trailing dorsal fin.
reef
Marbled Lungfish
The largest of the African lungfish, marked with a dark mottled pattern, capable of surviving prolonged drought buried in a mucus-lined mud burrow.
freshwater
Mottled Sculpin
A small, mottled brown freshwater sculpin found in clear, cold streams and lakes across North America, identified by its large head, wide pectoral fins, and lack of scales.
freshwater
Marble Trout
Marble trout are a large, distinctively patterned native trout of the Balkan Peninsula, named for the marbled, olive-and-brown pattern covering their body, and are now considered vulnerable due to hybridization with introduced brown trout.
freshwater
New Zealand Hagfish
A jawless, eel-shaped scavenger that lives on muddy seafloor around New Zealand and southeastern Australia, known for producing copious defensive slime and feeding on carcasses and invertebrates on the seabed.
saltwater
Mangrove Jack
A deep red Indo-Pacific snapper whose juveniles grow up in mangrove estuaries and rivers, tolerating salinities from freshwater to full seawater.
brackish
Muskellunge
A large, elongated predatory fish native to North American lakes and rivers, marked by dark vertical bars or spots on a lighter body. It is the largest member of the pike family and a well-known apex freshwater predator.
freshwater
Mako Shark
The fastest shark species, built for speed with a sleek, metallic blue body, pointed snout, and crescent-shaped tail, roaming open temperate and tropical oceans worldwide.
cartilaginous
Napoleon Wrasse
A massive, thick-lipped coral reef wrasse with a distinctive bulging forehead hump and blue-green maze-like facial markings, among the largest reef fish in the Indo-Pacific.
reef
Lumpfish
Also called the lumpsucker, the Lumpfish is a rounded, scaleless North Atlantic fish that anchors to rocks with a sucker disc, and whose males guard the eggs after spawning.
saltwater
Mutton Snapper
A rosy-pink Western Atlantic reef snapper marked by blue eye-lines and a small black spot below the dorsal fin, with elegantly pointed fin tips.
reef
Lumpsucker
A rounded, ball-shaped North Atlantic fish with rough tuberculate skin and a ventral sucker disc used to cling to rocks and kelp.
saltwater
Nassau Grouper
A stocky Caribbean reef grouper known for its ability to rapidly change color and pattern, from pale to dark barred phases, and for forming large seasonal spawning aggregations now heavily protected.
reef
Majestic Angelfish
A boldly patterned western-Pacific angelfish with orange body, blue-edged bands, and a blue lower body.
reef
Leerfish
A powerful surf-zone predator of the eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean, known as garrick in South Africa and unique among jacks for its smooth, scute-free lateral line.
pelagic
Madtom
A small North American freshwater catfish that hides under rocks by day and carries venomous pectoral and dorsal spines used defensively when handled or threatened.
freshwater
Least Brook Lamprey
The least brook lamprey is one of the smallest lamprey species in North America, a non-parasitic freshwater fish found in small streams of the central and southeastern United States.
freshwater
Lyretail Anthias
The lyretail anthias is a small, vividly orange-pink reef fish that forms large, colorful schools over coral drop-offs, with males sporting an elongated lyre-shaped tail.
reef
Ling Cod
A large, elongated predator of the North Pacific coast known for its mottled camouflage and cavernous, tooth-filled mouth. Despite the name, it is not a true cod but a member of the greenling family.
saltwater
Leopard Wrasse
A small, strikingly patterned reef wrasse covered in a dense network of dark-edged spots, often seen hovering low over sand near coral heads while foraging for tiny invertebrates.
reef
Lesser Amberjack
A small, deep-dwelling jack of the western Atlantic, distinguished from its larger amberjack relatives by its modest size and life around offshore reefs and wrecks.
saltwater
Longhorn Sculpin
A large, spiny-headed sculpin common on sandy and rocky seafloors along the northwest Atlantic coast, easily recognized by its oversized head and fan-like pectoral fins.
saltwater
Longnose Chimaera
A deep-water cartilaginous fish related to sharks, marked by an unmistakably long pointed snout and a slender tapering body cruising continental slopes far below sunlight.
cartilaginous
Longspine Snapper
The longspine snapper is a slender, bright red deepwater snapper known for an elongated filament trailing from its dorsal fin, found on steep offshore slopes across the Indo-Pacific.
deepsea
Longfin Trevally
A moderately deep-bodied Indo-Pacific trevally recognized by its elongated, filament-like dorsal and anal fin tips, typically found alone over sandy coastal bottoms.
reef
Little Tunny
A speedy, hard-fighting mackerel relative marked by distinctive wavy dark markings on its back, found in warm coastal and offshore waters of the Atlantic and Mediterranean.
pelagic
Ling
The ling is a long, eel-shaped member of the cod family found on deep rocky reefs of the northeastern Atlantic, distinguished by its elongated fins and single chin barbel.
saltwater
Lined Surgeonfish
A boldly striped blue, black, and yellow tang that fiercely defends algal-turf patches on shallow, wave-exposed reef crests across the Indo-Pacific.
reef
Niger Triggerfish
A deep blue-green triggerfish with reddish teeth and a trailing crescent tail, often seen feeding on plankton above reef slopes.
reef
Leafy Seadragon
An extraordinary seahorse relative covered in ornate leaf-shaped appendages, camouflaging almost perfectly among the kelp and seaweed beds of southern Australia.
reef
Northern Anchovy
A small, slender schooling fish with a pointed snout and large mouth, abundant along the Pacific coast of North America, where it forms a key part of the California Current forage base.
pelagic
Longtail Tuna
A coastal tuna of the Indo-West Pacific with a notably slender, elongated body and a long, low second dorsal fin, often found closer to shore than other tunas.
pelagic
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
Lane Snapper
A small, silvery-pink schooling snapper marked by faint yellow stripes and a black spot near the tail base, common across shallow Western Atlantic reefs and seagrass.
reef
Northern Brook Lamprey
The northern brook lamprey is a small, non-parasitic freshwater lamprey of the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River region, believed to have evolved from a parasitic ancestor but never feeding as an adult.
freshwaterLeopard Danio
A spotted color morph of the Zebrafish, the Leopard Danio trades horizontal stripes for a striking pattern of dark spots across a golden body.
freshwater
Northern Sea Robin
A bottom-dwelling western Atlantic fish with an armored head and huge wing-like pectoral fins, using leg-like fin rays to walk across the seafloor.
saltwater
Lake Trout
A large, deep-lake char native to cold northern North American waters, marked by pale spots on a dark greenish-gray body and a deeply forked tail. It typically inhabits the coldest, deepest zones of large lakes.
freshwaterNorthern Kingfish
A slender surf-dwelling drum of the Atlantic coast, marked by bold dark diagonal bars and a distinctive elongated dorsal fin ray.
saltwater
Lanternfish
Lanternfish are small, extremely abundant mesopelagic fish found worldwide, recognized by rows of light-producing photophores along their silvery bodies and large low-light eyes.
deepsea
Orangespine Unicornfish
A hornless unicornfish marked by a black eye mask, yellow dorsal stripe, and vivid orange blade-like spines at the tail base; common on shallow Indo-Pacific reefs.
reef
Little Skate
A small, common skate of the northwest Atlantic continental shelf, widely used in biological research and frequently caught as bycatch in coastal trawls.
cartilaginous
Nile Tilapia
A deep-bodied African cichlid with bold stripes on its tail fin, the Nile tilapia is one of the world's most widely distributed freshwater fish through aquaculture and introductions.
freshwater
Lemon Tetra
A pale yellow tetra from the Amazon basin, easily recognized by its lemon-tinted body and black-edged anal fin bordered in yellow.
freshwater
Molly
A hardy, adaptable livebearer native to Mexico and Central America, the common molly thrives in fresh, brackish, and even marine water and is one of the most popular beginner aquarium fish.
freshwater
Lemonpeel Angelfish
A small, bright yellow Pacific dwarf angelfish with a blue ring around the eye and blue edging on the fins.
reef