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.
Pacu
A large Amazon and Orinoco characin related to piranhas but herbivorous, identified by its reddish belly and flattened, fruit-crushing teeth.
freshwater
Peacock Grouper
The peacock grouper is a dark-bodied reef predator patterned with bright blue spots and pale bars, native to the Indo-Pacific and introduced to Hawaiian waters.
reef
Pristella Tetra
A translucent, pale-golden tetra whose semi-transparent body reveals internal structures, marked by distinctive black-and-yellow fin patches.
freshwater
Ocean Sunfish
The ocean sunfish is the heaviest bony fish alive, a flattened giant with no true tail that drifts through temperate and tropical seas feeding on jellyfish.
pelagic
Pink Salmon
The smallest and most abundant Pacific salmon, notable for its strict two-year life cycle and the pronounced dorsal hump males develop when spawning.
freshwater
Pallid Sturgeon
The pallid sturgeon is a large, pale, endangered fish of the Missouri and Mississippi rivers, adapted to fast, turbid water with a flattened snout and reduced eyes.
freshwater
Pelagic Stingray
A uniquely oceanic stingray that never touches the seabed, drifting through warm and temperate seas worldwide while feeding on squid and small fish.
pelagic
Marlin
A large, powerful open-ocean billfish with a long rounded spear-like bill and a tall crested back, prized as one of the ocean's fastest and most sought-after game fish.
pelagic
Neon Damselfish
A small, brilliant iridescent blue damselfish with a touch of yellow on the tail, commonly seen in loose groups over rubble and coral on Indo-Pacific reefs.
reef
Marbled Hatchetfish
A tiny South American fish with a deep, keeled belly and enlarged pectoral fins that let it skim and glide just above the water surface to escape predators.
freshwater
Greenland Halibut
A cold-water, deep-sea North Atlantic and Arctic flatfish with a dark body on both sides, a large toothy mouth, and a less flattened posture than typical flounders.
deepsea
Humbug Damselfish
A small white damselfish marked with three bold black bars and a clear tail, living in tight groups among the branches of Indo-Pacific coral colonies.
reef
Kawakawa
A compact, fast schooling tuna of the Indo-Pacific with a wavy dark pattern on its back and several distinctive dark spots between the pectoral and pelvic fins.
pelagic
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
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
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
Great Sculpin
One of the largest sculpin species, with a heavily armored, spiny head and mottled brown body, found along rocky and muddy bottoms of the cold North Pacific.
saltwater
Green Neon Tetra
A Rio Negro blackwater characin closely related to the Neon Tetra, identified by its shimmering blue-green stripe and limited rear-body red coloration.
freshwater
Golden Wonder Killifish
A golden-orange color form of the striped panchax, this hardy topminnow patrols the water's surface hunting insects and small fish in South Asian wetlands.
freshwater
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
European Flounder
The European flounder is a right-eyed flatfish notable for its unusual tolerance of low salinity, regularly venturing far up rivers and estuaries.
brackish
European Grayling
The European grayling is a slender salmonid famous for its tall, sail-like, iridescent dorsal fin, found in cold, clear rivers and lakes across much of Europe.
freshwater
Ctenopoma (African Bushfish)
A stealthy, mottled labyrinth fish from West and Central Africa that ambushes small prey from cover and can gulp air to survive in oxygen-poor swamps.
freshwater
Crevalle Jack
A powerfully built, silvery jack with a steep forehead and a black spot on its gill cover, common along coastal and estuarine waters of the Atlantic.
pelagic