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.
Bluefin Killifish
A small, slender killifish native to Florida and the southeastern US, named for the iridescent blue fringe on the male's dorsal and anal fins.
freshwater
Clown Knifefish
A knife-shaped Southeast Asian fish with a distinctive row of large black eyespots along its rear body and a long, continuous ventral fin.
freshwater
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
Blacktip Shark
A fast, energetic coastal shark named for the black tips on most of its fins, often seen leaping and spinning while chasing schooling fish.
saltwater
Black Marlin
A massive, powerful billfish of the Indo-Pacific known for its rigid, immovable pectoral fins and status as one of the largest bony fish in the ocean.
pelagic
Bigeye Trevally
A large, silvery-to-black reef jack famous for forming massive, swirling daytime schools around Indo-Pacific reef passes and drop-offs.
reef
Black Skirt Tetra
A silvery-gray tetra with a flowing black skirt-like tail and fins, whose dark coloration typically fades somewhat as the fish matures.
freshwater
American Flagfish
A stocky, deep-bodied killifish native to Florida, named for the red-and-blue striped, star-marked flank pattern of breeding males reminiscent of a flag.
freshwater
Atlantic Bluefin Tuna
A massive, torpedo-shaped, deep blue-backed tuna built for speed and long-distance migration across the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea.
pelagic
Yellowtail Flounder
A slender northwest Atlantic flatfish recognized by the rusty-yellow tint along its tail edge, reddish-brown upper body, and preference for sandy continental shelf bottoms.
saltwater
Wideband Clownfish
A dark brown-to-black anemonefish with a single thick white band across the mid-body, restricted to temperate-edge reefs around Lord Howe Island, eastern Australia, and New Caledonia.
reefBluestripe Fangblenny
An elongated blenny with a blue-and-black striped body that mimics cleaner wrasse to approach unsuspecting fish, using enlarged fangs to nip scales, mucus, or tissue before darting away.
reef
Sweetlips
Sweetlips is the common name for boldly striped reef fish of the genus Plectorhinchus, exemplified by the Oriental sweetlips, known for thick fleshy lips and dramatic juvenile-to-adult color change.
reef
Threadfin Trevally
An Indo-Pacific jack whose juveniles trail extraordinarily long thread-like fins, maturing into deep-bodied, steep-headed adults over sandy coastal bottoms and reef edges.
reef
Titan Triggerfish
The Titan Triggerfish is the largest triggerfish species, recognized by its olive-yellow body, pale moustache stripe, and famously territorial nest-guarding behavior on Indo-Pacific reefs.
reef
Sheepshead
A deep-bodied coastal fish easily recognized by bold black vertical bars and prominent human-like teeth, common around docks, jetties, and oyster reefs along the western Atlantic.
saltwater
Rudd
A deep-bodied European cyprinid known for brassy-gold flanks and vivid orange-red fins, the rudd frequents weedy lakes and slow rivers, feeding near the surface on insects and plants.
freshwater
Redfish
A coppery-bronze estuarine predator famous for the large black eyespot near its tail, the Redfish is a mainstay of shallow coastal flats along the Gulf and southeastern Atlantic coasts.
brackish
Pollock
A streamlined, greenish-bronze cod relative that schools around rocky reefs and wrecks in the northeastern Atlantic, told apart from cod by its protruding lower jaw and lack of a chin barbel.
saltwater
Marbled Swamp Eel
A snake-like, limbless eel of Central and South American swamps and slow rivers, marked with a mottled, marbled pattern and equipped with air-breathing lungs-like tissue for surviving in stagnant water.
freshwater
Moray Eel
A long, serpentine reef predator that hides in crevices by day, identified by its scaleless body, continuous fin along the back, and powerful jaws with a rarely seen second set of pharyngeal jaws.
reef
Marbled Grouper
The marbled grouper is an uncommon western Atlantic reef fish with a distinctive dark, marbled or streaked pattern that gives way to a dark 'charcoal' belly, often seen near caves and drop-offs.
reef
Potato Grouper
The potato grouper is one of the largest reef groupers, a pale grey fish covered in dark blotches resembling potato skin, found on Indo-Pacific reefs and known for its curious, approachable behavior toward divers.
reef
Piranha
A deep-bodied South American river fish famed for its sharp interlocking teeth and coordinated group feeding behavior, though most species are opportunistic scavengers.
freshwater