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.
Tropical Gar
A large-bodied gar native to Central American rivers and lakes, with a broad snout and faint dark spotting on its rear body and fins.
freshwater
Silver Tip Tetra
A bronze-bodied Brazilian characin notable for lacking an adipose fin and for its bright white-tipped fins, active in fast-moving shoals.
freshwater
Silver Perch
The Silver Perch is a small, bright silvery sciaenid common in seagrass and oyster reef habitats along the U.S. Atlantic and Gulf coasts.
brackish
Spanish Hogfish
A colorful western-Atlantic wrasse with a purple-blue upper front and yellow rear, and a well-known juvenile cleaning habit.
reef
Reef Shark
A common, streamlined shark patrolling Indo-Pacific coral reefs, recognized by its broad black-edged tail fin and stout gray body.
reef
Red Drum
The Red Drum is a coppery-bronze coastal fish of the western Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico, best known for the dark eyespot near its tail.
brackish
Peacock Blenny
A shallow-water Mediterranean blenny in which breeding males grow a tall fleshy head crest and a bold eyespot on the dorsal fin.
saltwater
Pigfish
A grunt of Atlantic and Gulf coast estuaries, marked by diagonal rows of small blue and gold spots and named for its pig-like grunting sound.
brackish
Meagre
The Meagre is a large, golden-silver sciaenid of the eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean, among the biggest members of the drum family.
saltwater
Margined Flyingfish
A large flyingfish with dark, blue-margined wing-like pectoral fins that glides across open tropical and subtropical seas.
pelagic
Lumpsucker
A rounded, ball-shaped North Atlantic fish with rough tuberculate skin and a ventral sucker disc used to cling to rocks and kelp.
saltwater
High-hat
A striking black-and-white striped reef drum related to the jackknife-fish, easily recognized by its tall, elongated dorsal fin.
reef
Firefish Goby
A slender white-and-orange reef fish with a tall, flag-like first dorsal fin, often seen hovering near its burrow on sandy slopes.
reef
Florida Gar
A heavily spotted gar endemic to the Florida peninsula, recognized by dark markings covering its head, body, and every fin.
freshwater
Common Pleco
A large, heavily armored South American catfish with a suckermouth used to graze algae and biofilm from rocks and submerged wood.
freshwater
Cory Catfish
A small, armored South American bottom-dweller with a bronze-green sheen, known for shoaling and constant substrate foraging.
freshwater
Bleeding Heart Tetra
A deep-bodied upper Amazon characin marked by a small red 'bleeding heart' spot and, in males, a dramatic elongated dorsal fin.
freshwater
Blue Marlin
A massive, cobalt-blue billfish with a long spear-like bill, the Blue Marlin is one of the fastest and largest predators of the open tropical ocean.
pelagic
Banded Gourami
A hardy South Asian labyrinth fish known for its diagonal orange-blue stripes and ability to gulp air in oxygen-poor water.
freshwater
Auriga Butterflyfish
A very common Indo-Pacific butterflyfish with cross-hatched white body, yellow rear, and often a trailing dorsal filament.
reef
Atlantic Bonito
A streamlined, fast-swimming relative of tuna and mackerel, marked by dark oblique stripes running across its steel-blue back.
pelagic
Yellowfin Tuna
A sleek, fast-swimming tuna named for its long, bright yellow dorsal and anal fins, found in tropical and subtropical oceans worldwide.
pelagic
Walking Catfish
A hardy Southeast Asian catfish capable of breathing air and moving across land between bodies of water using its pectoral spines.
freshwaterWhite Marlin
A slender, fast-swimming billfish of the tropical and temperate Atlantic, known for its rounded fins and vivid blue-white coloration.
pelagic