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.
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
X-ray Tetra
A translucent coastal South American characin whose see-through body and bold black-white-yellow fin markings make it instantly recognizable.
brackish
Twinspot Wrasse
A large Indo-Pacific wrasse; juveniles are white with two red-and-black spots, while old males become bulky and greenish with a forehead hump.
reef
Snook
A sleek, silvery predator with a bold black lateral stripe and a distinctive sloped, pointed snout, closely tied to mangrove shorelines and warm coastal estuaries.
brackish
Reef Shark
A common, streamlined shark patrolling Indo-Pacific coral reefs, recognized by its broad black-edged tail fin and stout gray body.
reef
Panther Grouper
An unmistakable Indo-Pacific grouper with a pale gray body covered in round black spots, a small head, and a distinctive humped, sloping forehead profile.
reef
Percula Clownfish
A bright orange anemonefish with three bold white bars outlined in black, famous for its symbiotic partnership with sea anemones on western Pacific reefs.
reef
Lemon Tetra
A pale yellow tetra from the Amazon basin, easily recognized by its lemon-tinted body and black-edged anal fin bordered in yellow.
freshwater
Guineafowl Pufferfish
The Guineafowl Pufferfish is a variably colored reef puffer, most often dark brown to black with small white spots, resembling the plumage of a guineafowl bird.
reef
Haddock
A slender, silvery-grey relative of the cod, easily recognized by a distinctive black lateral line and a dark thumbprint-like blotch above the pectoral fin.
saltwater
Flagtail Prochilodus
The Flagtail Prochilodus is a schooling South American river fish named for its bold red-and-black striped tail fin, which resembles a flag.
freshwater
Emperor Tetra
A refined, violet-blue tetra from Colombia known for a bold black lateral stripe and males' elongated, sword-like central tail rays.
freshwater
China Rockfish
Easily recognized by a bold yellow stripe running down its black body, the China rockfish is a small, secretive reef dweller of the northeastern Pacific.
saltwater
Blue Tang
A vivid royal-blue reef fish with a black palette-shaped marking and a bright yellow tail, popularized worldwide after appearing in animated film.
reef
Three-Spot Domino Damselfish
A round, jet-black damselfish marked with three white spots, commonly seen sheltering among sea anemones and branching corals on Indo-Pacific reefs.
reef
Speckled Moray
A pale, densely speckled moray of Indo-Pacific reef flats, its white to cream body peppered with small black spots that thicken toward the tail.
reef
Koi
Ornamental color varieties of the Amur carp, selectively bred in Japan for centuries into hundreds of red, white, black, and gold patterns kept in decorative ponds worldwide.
freshwater
Jaguar Cichlid
A large, powerfully built Central American predator whose irregular black leopard-like blotches over a pale body give it its common name.
freshwater
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.
reefBeluga Sturgeon
One of the largest anadromous fish in the world, native to the Caspian and Black Sea basins. It migrates into major rivers like the Volga and Danube to spawn and is critically endangered.
brackish
Barramundi Cod
The Australian common name for the panther grouper, a pale gray, black-spotted reef grouper instantly recognizable by its small head and steeply humped forehead.
reef
Sauger
A slender, olive-gold relative of the walleye, best known for the rows of black spots on its spiny dorsal fin and its love of murky river currents.
freshwater
Lined Surgeonfish
A boldly striped blue, black, and yellow tang that fiercely defends algal-turf patches on shallow, wave-exposed reef crests across the Indo-Pacific.
reef
Green Spotted Puffer
A small, popular aquarium puffer with a bright green, black-spotted back and white belly, native to brackish estuaries and mangrove creeks across Southeast Asia.
brackish