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.
Cero Mackerel
A slender, fast-swimming mackerel of Caribbean and western Atlantic waters, identified by a bronze-yellow stripe and rows of yellow-orange spots along its silvery sides.
pelagicCalifornia Flyingfish
The largest flyingfish species in the eastern Pacific, this stout, silvery glider uses its oversized wing-like fins to skim above the waves off California and Mexico.
pelagic
Bleak
A small, slender, silvery cyprinid, the bleak forms huge surface shoals in rivers and lakes, snapping at insects and once prized for its scales used in imitation pearls.
freshwater
Atlantic Needlefish
A long, slender silvery fish with a needle-like toothy beak, common in coastal and estuarine waters of the western Atlantic where it hunts small fish near the surface.
brackish
Atlantic Croaker
The Atlantic Croaker is a silvery-bronze estuarine fish with a single chin barbel and faint wavy mottling, abundant along the western Atlantic coast.
brackish
White Seabass
The White Seabass is a large Pacific coast drum with a bluish-bronze back and silvery sides, closely associated with California's kelp forests.
saltwater
Mexican Tetra
A resilient silvery tetra native to Texas and Mexico, renowned for cave populations that lost their eyes and pigment through evolution in total darkness.
freshwater
Horse-eye Jack
A deep-bodied, silvery jack with an oversized eye, commonly seen in large stationary schools around Caribbean and Florida reefs and harbors.
reef
King Mackerel
A large, streamlined mackerel of the warm western Atlantic, prized as a fast offshore game fish and recognizable by its silvery, unmarked body.
pelagic
Bogue
The bogue is a slender, silvery schooling sparid common throughout the Mediterranean and eastern Atlantic, feeding on plankton, algae, and small invertebrates in open coastal water.
saltwaterKingfish
Kingfish, led by the Northern Kingfish, are silvery-grey surf-zone drums with a chin barbel and diagonal body bars, common along Atlantic beaches.
saltwater
Walleye Pollock
Walleye pollock is an abundant, schooling cod relative of the North Pacific, identified by its slender silvery body, speckled back, protruding lower jaw, and forked tail.
pelagicYellowfin Rainbowfish
A slender rainbowfish endemic to Misool Island in Indonesia's West Papua region, named for its bright yellow unpaired fins that contrast with its silvery-olive body.
freshwater
Streaked Spinefoot
A large silvery-gray rabbitfish marked with fine dark streaks and scattered pale spots, commonly found in estuaries, mangroves, and coastal reefs across the Indo-Pacific.
brackish
Rohu
A large South Asian river carp with a streamlined, silvery-grey body, widely farmed across the Indian subcontinent as a major aquaculture species and prized angling fish.
freshwater
European Pilchard (Sardine)
A small, silvery schooling fish found along the eastern Atlantic coast and throughout the Mediterranean, forming vast shoals that graze on plankton near the surface of coastal waters.
pelagic
Yellowtail
A streamlined, silvery jack with a distinctive yellow stripe running along its flanks and a yellow tail, found in temperate coastal waters worldwide.
pelagic
Sergeant Major
A common silvery damselfish marked with five bold black vertical bars, resembling military rank stripes, found on shallow tropical reefs.
reef
Sarpa Salpa
The sarpa salpa, or salema porgy, is a silvery sparid with golden stripes that grazes on algae over Mediterranean and eastern Atlantic reefs and seagrass beds.
reef
Tomtate
A small silvery grunt common over reefs and hard-bottom habitats of the western Atlantic, recognized by a dark blotch near the base of its tail fin.
reef
Gafftopsail Catfish
A silvery Atlantic sea catfish named for the tall, sail-like extension of its first dorsal fin ray and long trailing pectoral fin filaments.
saltwater
Atlantic Blue Marlin
A massive, powerful billfish of the open Atlantic, known for its cobalt-blue back, silvery flanks, and a long spear-like bill used to stun prey.
pelagic
Pacific Jack Mackerel
A silvery, schooling open-water fish of the eastern Pacific, marked by a full ridge of bony scutes along its sides and an ecologically vital role as forage for larger predators.
pelagicAtlantic Herring
A slender, silvery schooling fish that forms some of the largest shoals in the North Atlantic, feeding on plankton and serving as a key forage species for larger fish, seabirds, and marine mammals.
pelagic