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.
Denison Barb
A striking torpedo-shaped barb endemic to fast hill streams of India's Western Ghats, known for its bold red-black-yellow stripe and endangered status.
freshwater
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.
saltwater
Congo Tetra
A large, iridescent tetra from the Congo River basin, with shimmering blue-violet-gold flanks and, in males, a distinctive flowing, frayed tail fin.
freshwater
Catalina Goby
A tiny, vividly colored goby with electric blue bands over a red-orange body, found perched on rocky reefs and kelp holdfasts off the Pacific coast.
reef
Bluefish
An aggressive, fast-swimming coastal predator famous for feeding in frenzied schools and slicing through baitfish with razor-sharp teeth.
pelagic
Blue Tang
A vivid royal-blue reef fish with a black palette-shaped marking and a bright yellow tail, popularized worldwide after appearing in animated film.
reef
Candiru
A tiny, translucent Amazonian catfish that feeds by attaching to the gills of larger fish and consuming their blood, one of the few parasitic vertebrates known.
freshwater
Bullhead Catfish
A hardy, whiskered bottom-dweller with a rounded tail and mottled brown skin, thriving in muddy, low-oxygen ponds and slow streams across North America.
freshwater
Black Swallower
A small deep-sea fish renowned for an extraordinarily distensible stomach that lets it engulf prey several times its own body length and mass in a single strike.
deepsea
Almaco Jack
A deep-bodied jack with a tall, strongly notched dorsal fin and elongated fin lobes, commonly found around tropical reefs and offshore structure.
reef
Barred Halfbeak
A schooling, seagrass-associated halfbeak of the Indo-Pacific with a long, red-tipped lower jaw and faint dark bars along its silvery flanks.
saltwater
African Arowana
A large African bonytongue fish with a toothless, filter-feeding mouth adapted for straining plankton and detritus from floodplain waters.
freshwater
Atlantic Pollock
A fast, schooling North Atlantic gadid with a dark streamlined body and pale lateral line, often found swimming in open water over the shelf.
pelagic
Atlantic Saury
A slender, silvery, beaked fish of the open North Atlantic, closely related to needlefish, recognized by its elongated jaws and a row of small finlets near the tail.
pelagic
Sailfin Tang
A striped surgeonfish famous for its oversized, sail-like dorsal and anal fins, common on Indo-Pacific coral reefs.
reef
Pajama Cardinalfish
A small, egg-shaped reef fish with a yellow-striped head and red-spotted rear body, resembling patterned sleepwear.
reef
Raccoon Butterflyfish
A round, orange-and-white butterflyfish with a black mask-like eye band, named for its raccoon-like facial markings.
reef
Green Wrasse
A slender Mediterranean wrasse, often green to brownish, associated with seagrass meadows and rocky reefs.
saltwater
Hogfish
A large western-Atlantic wrasse with a pig-like snout and long front dorsal spines, able to rapidly change color.
reef
Goblin Shark
A rare, pink-skinned deep-sea shark with a long, blade-like snout and jaws that shoot forward to snatch prey in an instant.
deepsea
Yellow Tang
A brilliant all-yellow surgeonfish common on Pacific coral reefs, especially around Hawaii, easily recognized by its disc-shaped body and sharp tail spine.
reefWitch 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
Longnose Hawkfish
A red-and-white lattice-patterned hawkfish with an unmistakable elongated snout, perched motionlessly on gorgonian sea fans across the Indo-Pacific.
reef
Yellowtail Blue Damselfish
A small, vividly electric-blue damselfish with a sharply contrasting bright yellow tail, common on shallow reef flats and lagoons of the western Pacific.
reef