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.
Sand Seatrout
A pale, slender weakfish common in Gulf of Mexico bays and estuaries, closely related to spotted seatrout but lacking body spots.
brackish
Mrigal
A slender, silvery Indian carp and one of the three traditional Indian major carps, the mrigal is a bottom-feeding scavenger with a small mouth and short barbels, farmed widely across South Asia.
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
Whitespotted Puffer
A common Indo-Pacific reef puffer with a dark olive-brown body scattered with small white spots and distinctive dark rings around its eyes, gills, and pectoral fin bases.
reef
Whitetip Reef Shark
A slender nocturnal reef shark marked by distinctive white-tipped fins, often seen resting motionless inside reef caves and under ledges by day across the Indo-Pacific.
reef
Guineafowl Pufferfish
The Guineafowl Pufferfish is a variably colored reef puffer, most often dark brown to black with small white spots, resembling the plumage of a guineafowl bird.
reef
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
Bicolor Damselfish
A small reef fish sharply split into a dark front half and a pale rear half, common on Caribbean and western Atlantic coral reefs where it defends algae-covered territories.
reef
Oceanic Whitetip Shark
A robust open-ocean shark identified by its large, rounded, white-mottled fins, once one of the most abundant pelagic sharks but now heavily depleted across tropical open oceans worldwide.
pelagic
Whitetail Surgeonfish
A slender, dark-bodied tang with a strikingly pale, forked tail, often seen hovering in groups over Indo-Pacific reef drop-offs to feed on drifting zooplankton.
reef
Spotted Eagle Ray
A striking, diamond-shaped ray covered in bright white spots on a dark back, known for graceful swimming and spectacular leaps above coral reefs.
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
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
Passer Angelfish
An eastern-Pacific angelfish with a dark blue body, a single white vertical bar, and a yellow tail.
reef
Racoon Butterflyfish
An Indo-Pacific butterflyfish with a black 'mask' over the eyes bordered by white and a broad yellow body.
reef
Banded Butterflyfish
A white Caribbean butterflyfish crossed by bold black vertical bands, including one masking the eye.
reef
Scissortail Rasbora
A slender silver rasbora named for its striking black-and-white tail markings that open and close in a scissor-like motion while swimming.
freshwater
Saddleback Butterflyfish
A large Indo-Pacific butterflyfish with a bold black 'saddle' patch edged in white on the upper rear body.
reef
Raccoon Butterflyfish
A round, orange-and-white butterflyfish with a black mask-like eye band, named for its raccoon-like facial markings.
reef
Moorish Idol
An unmistakable disc-shaped reef fish with bold black-white-yellow bands and a dramatically long trailing dorsal fin.
reef
Ornate Butterflyfish
A showy Indo-Pacific butterflyfish with diagonal orange stripes across a white body and black-and-yellow face bands.
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
Domino Damselfish
A hardy black damselfish marked with three bold white spots as a juvenile, named for its resemblance to a domino tile.
reef
Red Devil Cichlid
A bold, thick-lipped Nicaraguan cichlid known for its fiery orange-red or white coloration and famously feisty, combative temperament.
freshwater