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.
Coral Hind
A vivid orange-red Indo-Pacific grouper scattered with pale iridescent-blue spots, commonly seen resting near coral heads and reef ledges.
reef
Greater Amberjack
A large, torpedo-shaped jack with a bronze-amber stripe running through the eye, commonly found around offshore reefs and wrecks worldwide.
reef
Devil Ray
A large, winged filter-feeding ray that cruises the open ocean in graceful undulating flight, often seen leaping clear of the water.
pelagic
Garibaldi
A large, brilliant orange damselfish and the official marine state fish of California, found among rocky reefs and kelp forests of the temperate northeast Pacific.
reef
Dwarf Gourami
A small, colorful labyrinth fish from South Asia, with males displaying vivid diagonal red and blue stripes, popular in the freshwater aquarium trade.
freshwater
Greater Pipefish
One of Europe's largest pipefish, the Greater Pipefish is a long, tube-snouted relative of the seahorse found among seagrass and rocky shallows from Scandinavia to the Mediterranean.
saltwater
Demasoni Cichlid
One of the smallest mbuna cichlids, the demasoni is instantly recognizable by its bold blue-and-black barring and is known for surprisingly intense territorial aggression despite its diminutive size.
freshwater
Golden Topminnow
A small southeastern U.S. killifish whose males show golden-yellow coloring with iridescent blue-green spotting. It favors quiet, well-vegetated ponds, swamps, and slow backwaters.
freshwater
Eastern Rainbowfish
A widespread eastern Australian subspecies of the splendid rainbowfish complex, showing blue-green to golden flanks and yellow-orange fins along coastal Queensland rivers.
freshwater
Goonch Catfish
A massive, mottled bottom-dwelling catfish of South and Southeast Asian rivers, capable of growing to enormous size in deep river pools below rapids.
freshwater
Deep-sea Lizardfish
A hardy abyssal ambush predator that rests motionless on the deep seafloor, using a large tooth-lined mouth to seize whatever prey passes close by.
deepsea
Flowery Flounder
An Indo-Pacific reef-associated flatfish densely covered in small blue rings and spots, giving a flower-like pattern, with both eyes on its upper left side.
reef
Dog Snapper
A robust, coppery-red Western Atlantic snapper named for its prominent canine teeth, identified by a pale triangular patch beneath the eye.
reef
Florida Pompano
A deep-bodied, silvery fish with a forked tail and yellow-tinged fins, common in sandy surf zones along the western Atlantic coast.
saltwater
Dojo Loach
An elongated, whiskered East Asian loach, sold in the aquarium and pond trade under the Japanese name 'dojo,' known for burrowing in soft mud and tolerating cold water.
freshwater
Fiji Blue Devil
A striking blue-headed, yellow-bodied damselfish endemic to the coral reefs of Fiji and nearby South Pacific islands.
reef
Emperor Killifish
Emperor Killifish is an alternate name for the Blue Gularis, one of the largest and most dramatically finned West African killifish, with males sporting an elongated lyre-shaped tail.
freshwater
Firemouth Cichlid
A Central American cichlid famous for the fiery red-orange throat it flares open to intimidate rivals during territorial disputes.
freshwater
Egg-laying Killifish
A general term for the many oviparous killifish species that scatter fertilized eggs rather than bearing live young, exemplified by the widespread blue panchax of South and Southeast Asian wetlands.
freshwater
Fingerprint Filefish
The Fingerprint Filefish is a small reef filefish with a dark head, orange-brown body marked by fine irregular lines, and a bright orange tail.
reef
Ember Parrotfish
The vivid orange-red juvenile color phase of the Redlip Parrotfish, prized in the aquarium trade for its fiery hue before it transforms into a much larger blue-green adult.
reef
Freshwater Drum
The Freshwater Drum is the only entirely freshwater member of the drum family, recognized by its humpbacked silvery body and tail-extending lateral line.
freshwater
Dusky Grouper
The dusky grouper is a large, dark brownish-grey grouper native to rocky reefs of the Mediterranean and eastern Atlantic, once heavily depleted by spearfishing and now a conservation priority in parts of its range.
reef
Flathead Catfish
A massive, flat-headed catfish with a mottled yellow-brown body and a protruding lower jaw, known for its solitary, ambush-predator lifestyle in large river systems.
freshwater
Electric Eel
A long, air-breathing South American knifefish, not a true eel, famous for generating powerful electric discharges from specialized organs used to stun prey, navigate, and defend itself.
freshwater
Fairy Wrasse
A dazzling small reef wrasse in which males flash iridescent shades of red, purple, and blue during courtship displays over coral rubble and reef slopes.
reef
European Eel
The European Eel is a catadromous fish found across European rivers and lakes, now critically endangered after a population collapse exceeding 90% since the 1980s.
freshwater
Fathead Minnow
A small, hardy North American minnow famous as baitfish and a standard toxicology test species, able to survive low-oxygen, turbid water most fish avoid.
freshwater
Estuarine Stonefish
A heavily camouflaged, encrusted-looking fish that lies motionless on muddy estuary and mangrove bottoms across the Indo-Pacific, bearing venomous dorsal spines as a natural defense.
brackish
Far Eastern Brook Lamprey
A small, jawless, non-parasitic lamprey native to clear freshwater streams across Japan, Korea, and mainland East Asia, spending most of its life as a burrowing larva before a brief non-feeding adult stage.
freshwater
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
European Plaice
European plaice is a right-eyed flatfish easily recognized by the vivid orange spots scattered across its smooth brown upper side.
saltwater
Ember Tetra
A tiny, glowing orange-red tetra that shoals in large numbers and is among the smallest characins kept in freshwater aquaria.
freshwaterEuropean Hake
The European hake is a large, slender Gadiform predator of northeastern Atlantic and Mediterranean shelf waters, identifiable by its sharp-toothed jaws, two dorsal fins, and complete absence of a chin barbel.
saltwater
Epaulette Shark
A small, slender reef shark famed for 'walking' across exposed reef flats on its paddle-like fins, marked by a large dark eyespot behind each gill.
reef
European Sea Bass
The European sea bass is a sleek, silvery predator common along European and North African coasts, prized by anglers as a hard-fighting sport fish.
saltwater
European Brook Lamprey
The European brook lamprey is a small, non-parasitic freshwater lamprey found across Europe, closely related to the river lamprey but spending its entire life cycle in streams and never feeding as an adult.
freshwater
European Pilchard (Sardine)
A small, silvery schooling fish found along the eastern Atlantic coast and throughout the Mediterranean, forming vast shoals that graze on plankton near the surface of coastal waters.
pelagic
Emperor Tetra
A refined, violet-blue tetra from Colombia known for a bold black lateral stripe and males' elongated, sword-like central tail rays.
freshwater
Cubera Snapper
The largest snapper in the Atlantic, a heavy-bodied reef predator with oversized canine teeth. Adults hold near deep ledges and wrecks, while juveniles grow up in mangrove nurseries.
reef
Endler's Livebearer
A tiny, dazzlingly colorful relative of the guppy discovered in a handful of Venezuelan lagoons, the Endler's livebearer is prized by aquarists for its metallic, jewel-toned males.
freshwater
Emperor Angelfish
The Emperor Angelfish is a large, boldly striped reef fish with alternating blue and yellow horizontal lines and a dark mask across the eyes, one of the most recognizable angelfish in the Indo-Pacific.
reef
European Anchovy
A slender, small-bodied schooling fish with a distinctive pointed snout and underslung mouth, found in enormous shoals along European and North African coasts and throughout the Mediterranean.
pelagic
Coral Beauty Angelfish
The Coral Beauty Angelfish is a small dwarf angelfish with a deep purple-blue body and orange-yellow scale highlights, widely distributed across Indo-Pacific reefs.
reef
Domino Damselfish
A hardy black damselfish marked with three bold white spots as a juvenile, named for its resemblance to a domino tile.
reef
Crimson-spotted Rainbowfish
A small, deep-bodied rainbowfish native to coastal rivers of eastern Australia, recognized by its iridescent blue-green flanks marked with rows of crimson-red spots.
freshwater
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
Diamond Watchman Goby
A pearly white sleeper goby with pale yellow stripes and sky-blue head markings that spends its day sifting mouthfuls of sand for hidden invertebrates near its burrow.
reef