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.
Crocodile Needlefish
One of the largest needlefish, with a massive, tooth-filled snout and a slender silvery body; a powerful surface predator of tropical and subtropical seas worldwide.
pelagic
Flounder
A flatfish with both eyes on its upper side that lies camouflaged against sandy or muddy bottoms, ambushing small fish and invertebrates that pass overhead.
saltwater
Windowpane Flounder
An almost circular, paper-thin Atlantic coast flatfish so translucent that light passes through its body, with light brown mottled coloring and widely spaced eyes.
saltwaterSpeckled Flounder
A small, left-eyed flatfish of the tropical eastern Pacific, named for the fine speckled pattern covering its upper body.
saltwater
Southern Flounder
The southern flounder is a large left-eyed flatfish of the southeastern United States, closely resembling the summer flounder but lacking prominent eyespots on its body.
saltwater
Flowery Flounder
An Indo-Pacific reef-associated flatfish densely covered in small blue rings and spots, giving a flower-like pattern, with both eyes on its upper left side.
reef
European Flounder
The European flounder is a right-eyed flatfish notable for its unusual tolerance of low salinity, regularly venturing far up rivers and estuaries.
brackishWitch Flounder
A slender, tongue-shaped deep-water North Atlantic flatfish with plain grayish-brown coloration, fine scales, and a preference for cold muddy shelf and slope bottoms.
deepsea
Yellowtail Flounder
A slender northwest Atlantic flatfish recognized by the rusty-yellow tint along its tail edge, reddish-brown upper body, and preference for sandy continental shelf bottoms.
saltwaterWinter Flounder
The winter flounder is a small, right-eyed flatfish of the northwest Atlantic, named for its habit of moving into shallow coastal bays during the colder months.
saltwater
Summer Flounder
The summer flounder, also called fluke, is a left-eyed flatfish common along the US Atlantic coast, prized as a popular sport fish and known for its mottled camouflage pattern.
saltwater
Starry Flounder
The starry flounder is a distinctive North Pacific flatfish recognized by alternating orange and black bands across its fins and rough, star-shaped scales, and notable for tolerating a wide range of salinities.
brackish
Peacock Flounder
A tropical Atlantic flatfish famous for rapid color-changing camouflage and a pattern of small blue rings on a sandy brown body, with both eyes clustered on its upper left side.
reef
Olive Flounder
A large, muscular East Asian coastal flatfish with olive-brown mottled skin, a big toothy mouth, and eyes on its left side, also known as Japanese flounder.
saltwater
Gulf Flounder
A left-eyed flatfish common along the Gulf of Mexico and southeastern Atlantic coast, marked by three distinctive eyespots arranged in a triangle.
saltwater
Houndfish
A large, elongated needlefish with a crocodile-like beak of sharp teeth, found cruising just below the surface of warm coastal waters worldwide in search of small fish.
saltwater
Bastard Halibut
An alternate name for the olive flounder, a large East Asian coastal flatfish with a muscular olive-brown mottled body, big toothy mouth, and left-sided eyes.
saltwaterFantail Sole
A right-eyed Pacific flatfish named for its broadly rounded, fan-like tail, common on sandy bottoms from California to Baja California.
saltwater
Atlantic Halibut
The Atlantic halibut is the largest flatfish species, a right-eyed flounder with a diamond-shaped body found on cold seabeds of the North Atlantic.
saltwater
American Plaice
A right-eyed flounder of the cold North Atlantic, identifiable by its rough scales, curved lateral line, and reddish-brown upper body.
saltwater
Petrale Sole
A slender, plain light-brown northeastern Pacific flatfish, more closely related to flounders than true soles, favoring sandy continental shelf bottoms.
saltwater
Greenland Halibut
A cold-water, deep-sea North Atlantic and Arctic flatfish with a dark body on both sides, a large toothy mouth, and a less flattened posture than typical flounders.
deepsea