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.
Corkwing Wrasse
A small, colorful European wrasse identified by a dark comma-shaped spot behind the eye and a dark blotch on the tail base.
saltwater
Ballan Wrasse
The largest wrasse in northern European waters, a stout rocky-reef fish with highly variable green, brown, or reddish mottling.
saltwater
Tub Gurnard
The largest common European gurnard, with a reddish armored body and enormous, brilliantly blue-green pectoral fins that it spreads when disturbed.
saltwater
Stone Loach
The Stone Loach is a small, mottled bottom-dwelling fish common in clear European streams, often hiding under stones by day.
freshwater
Silver Bream
A silvery European freshwater fish with notably large, protruding eyes, often confused with young Common Bream but distinguished by its larger scales.
freshwater
Common Roach
A widespread European freshwater fish with a silvery body and distinctive red-orange fins, forming large shoals in slow rivers, lakes, and canals.
freshwater
Thornback Ray
A common European skate covered in distinctive rows of sharp thorny spines, found on sandy and muddy seabeds from shallow water to the continental shelf.
cartilaginous
River Lamprey
The river lamprey, also known as the lampern, is a small anadromous European lamprey that feeds parasitically on fish in coastal and estuarine waters before migrating into rivers to spawn.
brackish
Rock Goby
A small, mottled goby common in rocky tide pools along European and North African coasts, easily spotted darting between rocks at low tide.
saltwater
Common Bream
A deep-bodied, bronze-flanked European fish that forms large shoals in slow rivers and lakes, feeding on the bottom with a distinctive protrusible, tube-like mouth.
freshwater
Sea Trout
Sea Trout is the migratory, sea-run form of the brown trout, spending its adult life feeding along European coastlines before returning to rivers to spawn.
saltwater
Common Sole
The common sole is a slender, right-eyed flatfish of European coastal waters, recognizable by its elongated oval body and small, curved mouth adapted for nighttime foraging.
saltwater
Crucian Carp
A hardy, deep-bodied European carp closely related to goldfish, remarkable for its ability to survive winters in oxygen-depleted ponds by producing alcohol as a metabolic byproduct.
freshwaterTench
A robust, olive-green European fish with a thick, slimy skin and tiny scales, favoring weedy, still waters and long valued by anglers and pond keepers alike.
freshwater
Common Dab
The common dab is a small, right-eyed flatfish of European shelf seas, identified by its rough, sandpapery skin and curved lateral line above the pectoral fin.
saltwater
Worm Pipefish
A tiny, tailless pipefish that hides among seaweed and rock-pool fronds along European rocky shores, resembling a thin brown worm more than a typical fish.
saltwater
Knight Goby
A small, boldly patterned goby from Southeast Asian estuaries, pale gray-white with scattered black spots and blotches along its slender body. It perches on the bottom, propped on its fused pelvic fins, watching for small prey.
brackish
Red Gurnard
A reddish-pink bottom-dweller of European seas, the Red Gurnard has an armored head and finger-like pectoral rays it uses to walk and sense prey along the seafloor.
saltwater
Blonde Ray
A large European skate named for its pale, sandy coloration, recognized by prominent eye-like spots near the base of each pectoral fin and a preference for sandy coastal seabeds.
cartilaginous
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
Ide
A robust, silvery cyprinid of large European rivers and lakes, the ide (commonly bred as the golden 'orfe') forms active surface shoals and is a widely stocked ornamental pond fish worldwide.
freshwater
Grey Gurnard
A bottom-dwelling gurnard with an armored, pale-spotted grey-brown back and large bluish pectoral fins, common across sandy shelf waters of Europe.
saltwater
Angel Shark
A flattened, ray-like shark that buries itself in sand to ambush passing fish, once widespread but now one of the most critically threatened sharks in Europe.
saltwater
Sand Goby
A small, sand-colored goby common on shallow sandy seabeds and estuaries around northern Europe, distinguished by a dark spot at the base of its first dorsal fin.
brackish