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.
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.
freshwater
Ohio Lamprey
The Ohio lamprey is a parasitic, jawless fish native to medium and large rivers of the eastern United States, attaching to host fish with a toothed sucking disc to feed.
freshwater
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
Numbfish
A small electric ray capable of generating an electric shock to stun prey and deter predators, found buried in sandy shallows along warm coastlines.
cartilaginous
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
Ocean Pout
An eel-like bottom-dweller of the northwestern Atlantic, the Ocean Pout produces natural antifreeze proteins that let it stay active in near-freezing winter waters.
saltwaterGulper Eel
A bizarre deep-sea eel with a massively oversized, hinged jaw and a whip-like tail far longer than its body, adapted to swallow prey larger than itself in the food-scarce abyss.
deepsea
Ocean Sunfish
The ocean sunfish is the heaviest bony fish alive, a flattened giant with no true tail that drifts through temperate and tropical seas feeding on jellyfish.
pelagic
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
Orange Chromide
A small, bright orange-yellow cichlid from South Asian estuaries, marked by a single dark spot near the tail. It is the smallest member of its genus and a popular, peaceful aquarium fish.
brackish
Hatchetfish
Hatchetfish are small, silvery deep-sea fish named for their laterally compressed, blade-like body and large upward-pointing tubular eyes adapted to detect faint light above.
deepsea
Orangeshoulder Tang
A gray-bodied surgeonfish marked by a bold orange patch behind the gill cover, often seen grazing sandy rubble zones adjacent to Indo-Pacific coral reefs.
reef
Jackknife-fish
A boldly black-and-white striped reef drum with a dramatic, curved dorsal fin that resembles the blade of an open jackknife.
reef
Ornate Bichir
A striking Central African freshwater fish with an eel-like body covered in an intricate leopard-spot network pattern and a row of spiny finlets along its back.
freshwater
High-hat
A striking black-and-white striped reef drum related to the jackknife-fish, easily recognized by its tall, elongated dorsal fin.
reef
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
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
Midnight Parrotfish
A large, dark blue-black Caribbean parrotfish speckled with bright blue-green patches around the head.
reef
Kryptopterus
A small, almost entirely transparent Southeast Asian catfish whose internal skeleton and organs are visible through its glass-like body, popular in the aquarium trade.
freshwater
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
Horn Shark
A small, harmless bottom shark with heavy brow ridges and two sharp dorsal spines, common along the California coast.
cartilaginous
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.
pelagicHerring
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
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
Hake
A slender, silvery predatory fish with a large toothy mouth and two widely separated dorsal fins, Hake patrol continental shelf waters of the northeastern Atlantic and Mediterranean.
saltwater
Malabar Grouper
The Malabar grouper is a large, olive-grey Indo-Pacific grouper covered in dark blotches and small pale spots, found across coastal reefs, estuaries, and mangrove-lined coasts.
reef
Green Terror
A robust, iridescent-green South American cichlid whose bold turquoise spangling and feisty temperament earned it its combative common name.
freshwater
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
Kissing Gourami
A large, elongated Southeast Asian gourami famous for its thick, protrusible lips, which it uses to graze algae and to engage in "kissing" contests, an actual test of strength between rivals.
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
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
Mahseer
A powerful, large-scaled carp of fast Himalayan rivers, the golden mahseer is prized as one of the hardest-fighting freshwater fish, with a thick, muscular body built for holding in strong current.
freshwater
Horseface Loach
The Horseface Loach is a slender, burrowing loach recognized by its elongated, downturned snout, native to sandy-bottomed rivers of Southeast Asia.
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
Japanese Halfbeak
A slim, silvery surface fish with a long lower jaw, common in coastal and brackish waters around Japan, Korea, and China.
brackish
Mahi-Mahi
A fast-growing, brilliantly colored open-ocean fish that gathers around floating debris and sargassum, easily recognized by its iridescent blue-green-gold body and long continuous dorsal fin.
pelagic
Huchen
The huchen, or Danube salmon, is Europe's largest freshwater salmonid, a powerful river predator native to the Danube basin that has become increasingly rare due to damming and habitat fragmentation.
freshwater
Mangrove Snapper
A grayish snapper common along mangrove shorelines and estuaries of the western Atlantic, showing a faint dark stripe through the eye and a pointed, angular head.
brackish
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
Longtooth Grouper
A large brownish grouper found from southern Japan to the South China Sea, mottled with faint darker blotches and named for its prominent elongated canine teeth.
reef
Klein's Butterflyfish
A golden-brown Indo-Pacific butterflyfish with a dark eye bar and dusky patches, common on many reefs.
reef
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
Knight Goby
A small, boldly patterned goby from Southeast Asian estuaries, pale gray-white with scattered black spots and blotches along its slender body. It perches on the bottom, propped on its fused pelvic fins, watching for small prey.
brackish
Lake Sturgeon
The lake sturgeon is a large, armored, long-lived freshwater fish native to the Great Lakes and Mississippi basin, recognizable by its bony scute rows and shovel-shaped snout.
freshwater
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
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
Kelp Rockfish
A mottled brown-and-olive rockfish closely tied to kelp forest habitat along the California coast, where its coloring provides camouflage among kelp stipes and rocky understory.
saltwater
Longnose Butterflyfish
A bright yellow butterflyfish with a greatly elongated snout used to pluck small invertebrates from reef crevices. It is one of the most widespread and recognizable butterflyfish across the Indo-Pacific.
reef