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.
Cottonmouth Jack
A plain, silvery-grey deep-water jack named for the pale interior of its mouth, found over continental shelves and slopes across tropical oceans worldwide.
pelagic
Chub Mackerel
A widespread schooling mackerel found in temperate and subtropical seas worldwide, marked by irregular dark bars on its back and faint spots along its lower flanks.
pelagic
Cowfish
A horned relative of the boxfish, identified by paired forward-pointing spines above the eyes and a rigid box-shaped body; found in Indo-Pacific lagoons and seagrass beds.
reef
Common Dragonet
A sand-dwelling northeastern Atlantic fish with striking sexual dimorphism, males growing a dramatically elongated dorsal fin and long tail streamers.
saltwaterCommon Minnow
A small, active cyprinid of cool, clean streams, the common minnow forms dense shoals over gravel, and breeding males develop vivid red bellies and bright spawning colors.
freshwater
California Killifish
A stout, hardy killifish native to salt marshes and estuaries from California to Baja California. It tolerates extreme swings in salinity within tidal sloughs and lagoons.
brackish
Camouflage Grouper
A stocky, well-camouflaged Indo-Pacific grouper with a mottled brown-and-tan pattern of hexagonal blotches that helps it blend seamlessly into reef substrate.
reefBroadgilled Hagfish
The broadgilled hagfish is a large, jawless scavenger found on shelf and slope seabeds around New Zealand and southern Australia, among the biggest hagfish species known.
saltwater
Cabezon
The cabezon is the largest sculpin of the North American Pacific coast, a heavily mottled, scaleless ambush predator that blends into rocky reef and kelp habitat.
saltwater
Blacktip Reef Shark
A slender, small reef shark instantly recognized by the bold black tips on all its fins, commonly seen patrolling shallow lagoons and reef flats across the Indo-Pacific.
reef
Black Drum
The Black Drum is a deep-bodied, greyish-black sciaenid with distinctive chin barbels, found in estuaries and coastal waters from the mid-Atlantic to Argentina.
brackish
Blackfin Tuna
The smallest member of the true tuna genus, this fast schooling fish sports a dark blue-black back and yellow, black-edged finlets, ranging through warm western Atlantic waters.
pelagic
Blue Reef Chromis
A slender, brilliant blue schooling fish commonly seen hovering in large numbers above coral reef outcrops throughout the Caribbean and western Atlantic.
reef
Bluefin Tuna
One of the largest and fastest bony fish in the ocean, the Bluefin Tuna is a warm-blooded, torpedo-shaped predator capable of long transoceanic migrations across the Atlantic.
pelagic
Balloon Molly
A selectively bred molly variety with a distinctive rounded, ball-shaped body caused by a spinal curvature, developed and maintained through aquarium breeding.
freshwater
Banggai Cardinalfish
The Banggai Cardinalfish is a striking silver-and-black fish with long trailing fins and bold white spots, native to a tiny area of Indonesia and listed as Endangered in the wild.
reef
Agujon Needlefish
One of the largest needlefish species, the Agujon Needlefish is a long, torpedo-like predator with an elongated toothy beak, found in warm coastal and offshore waters worldwide.
saltwater
Atlantic Mudskipper
An amphibious goby that hops and skips across mangrove mudflats using muscular pectoral fins, breathing air through its skin and mouth lining when out of water.
brackish
Spiny Dogfish
A slender, small schooling shark with sharp spines in front of each dorsal fin and no anal fin, one of the most abundant sharks worldwide.
cartilaginous
Moon Wrasse
A fast-swimming green Indo-Pacific wrasse with pink-magenta facial streaks and a bright yellow crescent-moon tail.
reef
Gulf Kingfish
The palest and most silvery of the surf kingfishes, found in wave-swept sandy beaches from the mid-Atlantic to the Gulf of Mexico.
saltwater
Chalk Bass
A tiny bicolored sea bass with a lavender-blue head and orange rear body, often seen darting over Caribbean rubble reefs.
reef
Blue-spotted Shark
A small, slender nocturnal reef shark covered in vivid blue spots and dark saddle bands, popular in home aquariums.
reef
Bicolor Angelfish
A vivid dwarf angelfish split sharply into a bright yellow front half and deep blue rear half, a favorite of reef aquarists.
reef