Fish
Fish are the most diverse group of vertebrates, with tens of thousands of species living in fresh water and the sea. These profiles cover popular aquarium and freshwater fish alongside ocean fish, with a consistent reminder that aquarium fish are living animals with real needs — not effortless decorations — and that wild fish are wildlife, not pets.
Freshwater & Aquarium Fish
Popular aquarium and pond fish. Each profile distinguishes responsible aquarium keeping from wild fish and links to the relevant care basics.
Betta Fish
Betta splendens — the labyrinth-breathing Siamese fighting fish.
Goldfish
Carassius auratus — a long-lived domesticated carp-family fish.
Guppy
Poecilia reticulata — a small, colourful livebearer.
Angelfish
Pterophyllum scalare — a tall-finned South American cichlid.
Tetra
Small schooling characins, using the neon tetra as a reference.
Koi
Ornamental varieties of the common carp, kept in ponds.
Carp
Cyprinus carpio — a widespread, often introduced freshwater fish.
Catfish
Order Siluriformes — barbel-bearing fish, using the channel catfish.
Piranha
Sharp-toothed South American fish, far less ferocious than its reputation.
Sturgeon
Family Acipenseridae — armored 'living fossil' fish; many are threatened.
Electric Eel
Electrophorus electricus — an Amazon knifefish that shocks its prey.
Archerfish
Family Toxotidae — shoots down insects with precise jets of water.
Lungfish
Subclass Dipnoi — air-breathing 'living fossil' fish; some survive drought in mud.
Gar
Family Lepisosteidae — armor-scaled 'living fossil' predators; the giant alligator gar.
Paddlefish
Polyodon spathula — a plankton-filtering river fish with a sensory paddle snout.
Snakehead
Family Channidae — air-breathing predators; prized food, but invasive abroad.
Bichir
Genus Polypterus — ancient African fish with dorsal finlets and true air-breathing lungs.
Nile Perch
Lates niloticus — a huge African freshwater predator; introduced and invasive in Lake Victoria.
Tilapia
Cichlids such as Oreochromis niloticus — African freshwater fish, widely farmed and mouthbrooding.
Asian Arowana
Scleropages formosus — a prized 'dragon fish' of Southeast Asian rivers; Endangered and CITES-protected.
Mahseer
Genus Tor — large, powerful carp-family fish of fast South and Southeast Asian rivers.
Mekong Giant Catfish
Pangasianodon gigas — one of the world's largest freshwater fish; Critically Endangered.
Atlantic Salmon
Salmo salar — an anadromous fish that spawns in rivers and grows in the North Atlantic; assessed as Near Threatened.
European Eel
Anguilla anguilla — a catadromous, snake-like fish thought to spawn in the Sargasso Sea; Critically Endangered.
Brown Trout
Salmo trutta — a variable European salmonid with resident and migratory (sea trout) forms; widely introduced elsewhere.
Chinook Salmon
Oncorhynchus tshawytscha — the largest Pacific salmon, an anadromous fish of western North American rivers and the North Pacific.
Alligator Gar
Atractosteus spatula — the largest gar, an ancient armoured freshwater fish of the southern US and Mexico.
Lake Sturgeon
Acipenser fulvescens — a large, long-lived, ancient bottom-feeding fish of North American river and lake systems.
Arapaima
Arapaima gigas and relatives — one of the largest freshwater fish, an air-breathing giant of the Amazon basin.
Marine & Ocean Fish
Ocean fish covered as wildlife, with cautious conservation notes and clear distinction from aquarium pets. Several of these are group-level overviews.
Clownfish
Anemonefish (Amphiprion) famous for their anemone partnership.
Salmon
Migratory fish that return to fresh water to spawn.
Tuna
Fast, powerful open-ocean fish of the mackerel family.
Seahorse
Upright reef fish where the male carries the young.
Ray
Flattened cartilaginous fish related to sharks.
Eel
Elongated true eels (Anguilliformes), using the moray eel.
Pufferfish
Tetraodontidae — inflating fish, many of them highly toxic.
Barracuda
Sphyraena — fast, streamlined ambush predators with sharp teeth.
Grouper
Serranidae — large suction-feeding reef ambush predators.
Moray Eel
Muraenidae — reef eels with a hidden second set of jaws.
Lionfish
Pterois — venomous-spined reef fish; invasive in the Atlantic.
Cod
Gadus morhua — a cold-water bottom fish of huge fishery importance.
Mackerel
Scombridae — fast, streamlined schooling fish related to tuna.
Parrotfish
Scaridae — beaked reef grazers that help produce white sand.
Leafy Seadragon
Phycodurus eques — a seahorse relative disguised as drifting seaweed.
Mudskipper
Amphibious gobies that walk on their fins and breathe air.
Ocean Sunfish (Mola)
Mola mola — the heaviest bony fish, a disc-shaped surface basker.
Wrasse
Family Labridae — colourful reef fish; cleaners and the giant humphead wrasse.
Triggerfish
Family Balistidae — bold reef fish with a locking dorsal spine.
Flounder
Flatfish that lie on the seabed with both eyes on one side.
Stonefish
Genus Synanceia — camouflaged reef fish; the most venomous fish in the world.
Lamprey
Ancient jawless fish with a round, toothed sucker mouth; some parasitic.
Remora
'Sharksuckers' that hitch rides on sharks, rays, turtles, and whales.
Oarfish
Regalecus glesne — the longest bony fish; a likely source of sea-serpent tales.
Hagfish
Jawless deep-sea fish famous for producing huge amounts of defensive slime.
Flying Fish
Family Exocoetidae — ocean fish that glide above the waves to escape predators.
Butterflyfish
Family Chaetodontidae — vivid, disc-shaped reef fish; many feed on living coral.
Frogfish
Family Antennariidae — camouflaged anglerfish that 'walk' and fish with a built-in lure.
Goby
Family Gobiidae — tiny bottom fish with a suction-disc fin; famous for the goby–shrimp partnership.
Damselfish
Family Pomacentridae — bold little reef fish (clownfish among them); some farm algae.
Boxfish
Family Ostraciidae — rigid, armoured box-shaped reef fish that can release a toxin when stressed.
Blenny
Family Blenniidae — big-eyed little reef fish; one species mimics the cleaner wrasse to steal bites.
Batfish (Spadefish)
Genus Platax — tall, disc-shaped reef fish whose juveniles mimic drifting leaves.
Hawkfish
Family Cirrhitidae — reef fish that perch on coral and pounce on prey like a hawk.
Wolffish
Genus Anarhichas — fanged, shellfish-crushing cold-water fish with natural antifreeze in their blood.
Dragonet
Family Callionymidae — small seabed reef fish; includes the dazzling, true-blue mandarinfish.
Weeverfish
Family Trachinidae — sand-burying coastal fish with venomous spines; among the most venomous fish in European seas.
Lanternfish
Family Myctophidae — glowing deep-sea fish that may be among the most abundant vertebrates on Earth.
Gulper Eel
Eurypharynx pelecanoides — a deep-sea 'pelican eel' with an enormous, expandable mouth.
Barreleye Fish
Family Opisthoproctidae — deep-sea fish with tubular upward eyes; some have a transparent head.
Hatchetfish
Family Sternoptychidae — silvery twilight-zone fish that hide their silhouette with belly photophores.
Black Dragonfish
Genus Idiacanthus — slender deep-sea predators with light organs and extreme male–female differences.
Snailfish
Family Liparidae — soft, scaleless fish from tide pools to hadal trenches; some are the deepest-living fish known.
Reef Manta Ray
Mobula alfredi — a large filter-feeding ray of Indo-Pacific reefs and coasts, including Australian waters; Vulnerable.
Leafy Seadragon
Phycodurus eques — a seahorse relative with leaf-like camouflage, found only along southern Australian coasts.
Antarctic Toothfish
Dissostichus mawsoni — a large Southern Ocean predator with antifreeze proteins in its blood; sometimes called the Antarctic cod.
Icefish
Family Channichthyidae — Antarctic crocodile icefishes, the only known vertebrates with no haemoglobin and almost colourless blood.
About Fish Profiles
Fish profiles on FaunaHub cover classification, appearance, habitat, diet, and behaviour, with cautious, source-reviewed wording. Where a common name spans many species — such as "tetra", "catfish", "ray", or "pufferfish" — the page is a group-level overview rather than a single-species account, and a representative reference species is named. Conservation status varies by species and should be checked against current authoritative sources.