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.
Pacific Cod
A heavy-bodied, bottom-dwelling relative of the Atlantic Cod found across the cold North Pacific, recognized by its large head, chin barbel, and mottled brown coloring.
saltwater
Ling Cod
A large, elongated predator of the North Pacific coast known for its mottled camouflage and cavernous, tooth-filled mouth. Despite the name, it is not a true cod but a member of the greenling family.
saltwaterTadpole Cod
The tadpole cod is a tiny, translucent Gadiform fish named for its tadpole-like shape, found in warm surface waters worldwide and distinguished by its thread-like forward pelvic fins.
pelagic
Greenland Cod
The Greenland cod is a stocky, cold-adapted cod relative found in shallow coastal Arctic waters around Greenland and eastern Canada, distinguished by its deep body and short head.
saltwater
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
Rock Cod
Rock cod is a common name for numerous Sebastes rockfish species found on rocky Pacific reefs, identified by their deep, spiny-finned body and mottled camouflage coloration.
saltwater
Poor Cod
The poor cod is a small, golden-brown Gadidae common around rocky reefs and harbors of the northeastern Atlantic and Mediterranean, identified by its short chin barbel and dark pectoral-fin blotch.
saltwater
Antarctic Cod
Antarctic cod is a bottom-dwelling notothenioid fish of the Southern Ocean, adapted to near-freezing water and recognized by its mottled brown, camouflaged body and broad head.
saltwater
Atlantic Cod
A large, heavy-bodied bottom fish with a distinctive chin barbel and three dorsal fins, the Atlantic Cod is one of the North Atlantic's most historically significant and heavily studied fish species.
saltwater
Arctic Cod
Arctic cod, or polar cod, is a small, ice-associated Gadidae found throughout the circumpolar Arctic, recognized by its slender body, deeply forked tail, and role as the region's key forage fish.
pelagic
Pacific Hake
The Pacific hake is a slender, migratory relative of true cod found throughout the northeastern Pacific, easily told apart by its two dorsal fins, sharp-toothed jaws, and complete lack of a chin barbel.
pelagic
Pacific Halibut
The Pacific halibut is a massive right-eyed flatfish of the cold North Pacific, closely related to the Atlantic halibut and among the largest bony fish in its range.
saltwater
Pacific Hagfish
The Pacific hagfish is a jawless, eel-shaped deep-sea scavenger of the eastern Pacific known for releasing thick defensive slime and for feeding on carcasses on the ocean floor.
deepsea
Pacific Herring
A slender, silvery schooling fish closely related to the Atlantic Herring, found in cold coastal waters across the North Pacific, where it forms a critical forage base for fish, seabirds, and marine mammals.
pelagicPacific 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
Pacific Mackerel
A schooling pelagic fish of the eastern Pacific with an iridescent blue-green back marked by irregular dark bars and scattered spots along its lower flanks.
pelagic
Pacific Lamprey
The Pacific lamprey is a jawless, anadromous fish with a toothed sucking disc mouth, found along Pacific coastlines from Baja California to Japan and Alaska.
saltwater
Pacific Saury
A slender, silvery, beaked schooling fish of the temperate North Pacific, closely related to needlefish, marked by a row of small finlets near its tail.
pelagicPacific Sardine
A silvery, spot-flanked schooling fish found along the Pacific coast of North America, famous for boom-and-bust population cycles driven by shifting ocean temperatures and historically massive coastal schools.
pelagic
Pacific Blackdragon
An eel-like deep-sea dragonfish whose females are entirely jet-black with a long chin barbel, while the tiny, non-feeding males look almost nothing like them.
deepsea
Pacific Anchovy
A small, slender schooling fish abundant along the eastern Pacific coast from Canada to Baja California, the Pacific Anchovy is a key forage species known for its long snout and prominent silvery lateral stripe.
pelagic
Pacific Red Snapper
A bright reddish-pink snapper of rocky reefs along the Eastern Pacific coast from Mexico to Peru, closely resembling its Atlantic namesake but found in a different ocean.
reef
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.
pelagic
Pacific Blue-eye
A tiny, schooling fish common in coastal streams and estuaries of eastern Australia, easily recognized by its reflective, luminous blue eyes.
brackish