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.
Basking Shark
The world's second-largest fish, a massive gray-brown filter feeder recognized by its enormous gaping mouth and huge gill slits, often seen basking at the surface in cool temperate seas.
cartilaginous
Warmouth
A stocky, big-mouthed sunfish with red eyes and dark cheek streaks, at home in weedy, sluggish waters and swamps of the eastern United States.
freshwater
Copper Rockfish
A coppery-brown rockfish with a pale pink-white band along the back half of its body, commonly found near rocky structure and eelgrass beds close to shore.
saltwaterZebra Seahorse
A small, boldly striped seahorse endemic to northern Australian waters, patterned with fine dark bands that give it a distinctly zebra-like appearance.
reef
Blackstripe Topminnow
A slender freshwater killifish of the central and eastern U.S., identified by a single solid black stripe running from snout to tail. It inhabits quiet pools and slow stream reaches.
freshwater
Wolf Cichlid
One of the largest Central American cichlids, this powerful predator combines vivid turquoise and orange coloration with formidable jaws.
freshwater
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
Orange-lined Triggerfish
The Orange-lined Triggerfish is a dark green triggerfish covered in bold curving orange stripes, one of the most vividly patterned fish on Indo-Pacific reefs.
reef
Canary Rockfish
A vivid orange-and-gray rockfish of the Pacific continental shelf, easily recognized by its bright orange fins and mottled orange-and-gray body pattern.
saltwater
Black Crappie
A silvery panfish mottled with irregular dark speckling, closely related to the White Crappie but preferring clearer water, and one of the most popular schooling panfish in North America.
freshwater
Four-Eyed Fish
A surface-dwelling brackish-water fish famous for eyes split into upper and lower halves, allowing it to see simultaneously above and below the waterline.
brackish
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
Clown Tang
A vividly striped surgeonfish with alternating blue, black, and yellow horizontal lines, one of the most aggressively territorial herbivores on shallow Indo-Pacific reef crests.
reef
Banded Rainbowfish
A highly variable, boldly patterned rainbowfish from northeastern Australia, often showing multiple dark horizontal stripes and vivid regional color forms.
freshwater
White Perch
A silvery, deep-bodied temperate bass rather than a true perch, common in brackish estuaries and coastal rivers of eastern North America.
brackish
Black Rockfish
A dark, deep-bodied schooling rockfish common over rocky reefs and kelp forests along the Pacific coast, often seen in large surface-oriented aggregations.
saltwaterTwo-spot Red Snapper
The two-spot red snapper, or bohar snapper, is a large, deep red Indo-Pacific reef predator, sometimes showing two pale saddle spots on the back, and an important predator on coral reef slopes.
reef
Tanganyika Goby
A small, goby-shaped cichlid endemic to Lake Tanganyika's rocky shallows, grazing algae from wave-washed rocks and instantly recognizable by its blunt head and bottom-hugging posture.
freshwater
Raphael Catfish
A hardy South American armored catfish known for the bold cream stripes running along its dark body and its ability to produce audible clicking sounds when handled.
freshwater
Bluestripe Pipefish
The bluestripe pipefish is a tiny reef pipefish with a bright blue lateral stripe running along a tan or orange body, often seen hovering near crevices where it also cleans parasites from larger fish.
reef
Skunk Clownfish
A slender, pale peach-to-pink anemonefish marked by a single white stripe running from snout to tail, living in symbiosis with sea anemones on Indo-Pacific reefs.
reef
Silver Scat
A disc-shaped, silvery fish marked with dark vertical bars, found schooling in brackish estuaries and mangroves across the Indo-Pacific and northern Australia.
brackish
Zebra Loach
A small, boldly striped South Indian loach with fine dark vertical bands, popular in aquariums for its compact size and peaceful, social behavior.
freshwater
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