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.
Sailfish
One of the fastest fish in the ocean, instantly recognizable by its towering, sail-like dorsal fin and elongated spear-like upper jaw used to slash through schools of prey.
pelagic
Frilled Shark
An eel-like, primitive deep-sea shark often called a living fossil, with six frilly gill slits and rows of needle-like teeth for catching soft-bodied prey.
deepseaTadpole Cod
The tadpole cod is a tiny, translucent Gadiform fish named for its tadpole-like shape, found in warm surface waters worldwide and distinguished by its thread-like forward pelvic fins.
pelagic
Semicircle Angelfish
A large Indo-Pacific angelfish; adults are greenish-brown with blue-speckled fins and blue face lines.
reef
Potter's Angelfish
A small Hawaiian endemic dwarf angelfish, rusty orange with blue-grey and fine wavy blue lines.
reef
Yellow Longnose Butterflyfish
A bright yellow Indo-Pacific butterflyfish with a very long tweezer-like snout and a black eyespot near the tail.
reef
Dwarf Lionfish
A compact, mottled lionfish with broad fan-like fins and venomous spines, ambushing prey on Indo-Pacific reefs.
reef
Bristlenose Pleco
A small South American armored catfish known for the branching, tentacle-like bristles that develop on the snouts of mature males.
freshwater
Bumblebee Fish
A tiny, boldly banded goby popular in brackish aquariums, named for its wasp-like black-and-yellow stripes.
brackish
Bird Wrasse
An Indo-Pacific wrasse instantly recognized by its long, bird-like snout used to probe coral for prey.
reef
Margined Flyingfish
A large flyingfish with dark, blue-margined wing-like pectoral fins that glides across open tropical and subtropical seas.
pelagic
Kole Tang
A compact, striped surgeonfish with a golden eye-ring, using bristle-like teeth to sweep detritus from reef rock.
reef
Kuhli Loach
An eel-like, nocturnal loach with a banded body that burrows through substrate in streams across Southeast Asia.
freshwater
Balao
A slender, silvery halfbeak with a needle-like lower jaw that schools near the surface of warm Atlantic waters.
pelagic
Yellowfin Croaker
A silvery drum common in Pacific surf zones, recognized by faint diagonal lines along its flanks and yellow-tinted fins.
saltwaterViolet Goby
An eel-like burrowing goby with an iridescent violet-grey sheen and a large upturned mouth, found in muddy estuaries of the tropical Americas.
brackishBlood Parrot Cichlid
A rounded, vivid orange-red hybrid cichlid recognized by its permanently small, beak-like mouth and stubby, rounded fins.
freshwater
Leopard Shark
A slender, boldly patterned houndshark common in shallow California bays, easily recognized by its dark saddle-like blotches and spots.
cartilaginous
Grayling
A slender freshwater salmonid relative famed for its tall, sail-like dorsal fin, native to cold, clear rivers of Europe.
freshwater
Banded Knifefish
An elongated, eel-like South American fish that generates weak electric fields to navigate and communicate in murky water.
freshwater
Staghorn Sculpin
A common bottom-dwelling sculpin of Pacific coast bays and estuaries, named for the large branching (antler-like) spine on its gill cover.
brackish
Flame Tetra
A Rio de Janeiro coastal stream characin with a graduated flame-like color pattern from silver at the head to red-orange at the tail.
freshwater
Dog Salmon Herring
Despite the name, this is the chum salmon, nicknamed 'dog salmon' for its prominent canine-like spawning teeth — a true Pacific salmon, not a herring.
saltwater
Cuban Gar
A large, endemic Cuban gar with a broad alligator-like snout, now considered vulnerable due to its restricted freshwater range on the island.
freshwater