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.
White's Seahorse
White's seahorse is an endangered species endemic to the temperate estuaries of eastern Australia, best known for colonizing artificial structures like marina pylons and 'seahorse hotels' installed for conservation.
reefPacific Menhaden
A deep-bodied, silvery schooling fish found along the Pacific coast of South America, marked by a row of dark spots along its flank and adapted to feeding within the highly productive Humboldt Current upwelling system.
pelagic
Tarpon
A giant, silver-scaled fish known as the 'Silver King,' famous for its acrobatic leaps and its ability to gulp air at the surface in low-oxygen coastal waters.
brackish
Sturgeon
An ancient family of large, armored bony fish with bony scutes instead of scales and a shark-like barbeled snout. Sturgeon migrate between rivers and the sea to spawn and are among the most endangered fish groups.
brackish
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
Longfin Trevally
A moderately deep-bodied Indo-Pacific trevally recognized by its elongated, filament-like dorsal and anal fin tips, typically found alone over sandy coastal bottoms.
reef
Deep-sea Hatchetfish
A small, silvery, laterally flattened deep-sea fish shaped like a hatchet blade, using rows of downward-pointing light organs to mask its silhouette from predators lurking below.
deepsea
Bigeye Scad Sardine
Often mistaken for a true sardine because of its silvery, schooling habits, the bigeye scad is actually a jack recognizable by its unusually large eyes.
pelagic
Steelhead
The anadromous, sea-run form of rainbow trout, prized by anglers for its powerful runs and acrobatic leaps after migrating between rivers and the Pacific Ocean.
freshwater
Flathead Catfish
A massive, flat-headed catfish with a mottled yellow-brown body and a protruding lower jaw, known for its solitary, ambush-predator lifestyle in large river systems.
freshwater
Slippery Dick
A common small western-Atlantic wrasse with two dark lateral stripes and a small dark spot at the tail base.
reef
Midnight Parrotfish
A large, dark blue-black Caribbean parrotfish speckled with bright blue-green patches around the head.
reefDesert Rainbowfish
A hardy rainbowfish subspecies adapted to the arid rivers and isolated springs of central Australia, able to withstand extreme temperature swings and prolonged drought.
freshwater
Yellowhead Jawfish
A pale, yellow-headed jawfish that hovers above a self-dug sand burrow, diving in tail-first when startled.
reef
Sailfin Tang
A striped surgeonfish famous for its oversized, sail-like dorsal and anal fins, common on Indo-Pacific coral reefs.
reef
Hogfish
A large western-Atlantic wrasse with a pig-like snout and long front dorsal spines, able to rapidly change color.
reef
Green Wrasse
A slender Mediterranean wrasse, often green to brownish, associated with seagrass meadows and rocky reefs.
saltwater
Goblin Shark
A rare, pink-skinned deep-sea shark with a long, blade-like snout and jaws that shoot forward to snatch prey in an instant.
deepsea
Blue Damselfish
A small, brilliant electric-blue damselfish that fiercely defends its patch of shallow Indo-Pacific reef.
reef
Moon Wrasse
A fast-swimming green Indo-Pacific wrasse with pink-magenta facial streaks and a bright yellow crescent-moon tail.
reef
Gulf Kingfish
The palest and most silvery of the surf kingfishes, found in wave-swept sandy beaches from the mid-Atlantic to the Gulf of Mexico.
saltwater
Chalk Bass
A tiny bicolored sea bass with a lavender-blue head and orange rear body, often seen darting over Caribbean rubble reefs.
reef
White Grunt
A stout, silvery reef fish with a bright orange-red mouth lining, known for the grinding sound it makes with its pharyngeal teeth.
reef
Undulated Moray
A common Indo-Pacific reef moray with bold wavy, maze-like dark markings over a pale body, often seen with its head poking from reef crevices.
reef