Search Species
Search for fish species by common or scientific name, or use filters to browse by water type, size, temperament, and difficulty.
Found 232 species
Skipper halfbeak
Hyporhamphus snyderi
This is a sleek little open-water halfbeak from the Tropical Eastern Pacific, with that classic underbite beak and a silvery body with dark lines along the back. Its whole vibe is cruising the surface in a school, so if you ever tried keeping one you would be planning around swimming room and a seriously escape-proof lid.
Slender abyssal cusk-eel
Sciadonus pedicellaris
Sciadonus pedicellaris is a rare deep-sea livebearing brotula (family Bythitidae) with a very slender body, small deep-set eyes, and loose translucent skin; it occurs at bathyal to abyssal depths and is not suited to typical aquarium care. The name refers to the stalk-like (“pedicellate”) pectoral-fin base.
Slender grenadier
Ventrifossa teres
Ventrifossa teres is a deep-slope rattail (grenadier) from the southeast Pacific, built like a skinny little torpedo with that classic big-head-tapering-tail grenadier look. Its whole deal is living way down in the dark (hundreds of meters deep), so its "aquarium care" is basically a public-aquarium-only kind of fish, not a home tank species.
Slender lightfish
Vinciguerria attenuata
This is a tiny deep-water lightfish that spends its life way out in the ocean twilight zone, cruising up and down the water column each day. It has rows of photophores (little light organs) on the underside, plus those slightly tubular eyes that are built for looking up in the dark. Super cool biology, but realistically its not an aquarium fish at all.
Slender sunfish
Ranzania laevis
This is the little, weird cousin of the big ocean sunfishes - kind of an oval, squished-looking pelagic fish that literally loses the normal tail fin as it grows and ends up with a clavus instead. It cruises open water in warm-temperate to tropical seas, usually solo, picking off zooplankton and other small drifting prey.
Slime skate
Dipturus pullopunctatus
This is a South African deep-water skate that lives way out on the shelf/upper slope, not something that belongs anywhere near a home aquarium. It gets big (around 1.3 m max reported) and is a bottom-dwelling predator, so it needs cold, high-oxygen marine conditions and huge space to swim and rest properly.
Small lanternfish
Diaphus roei
Diaphus roei is a tiny deep-sea lanternfish (a myctophid) that lives out in open ocean water and uses rows of photophores (light organs) for camouflage and communication. It is not really an aquarium species - it is a mesopelagic fish adapted to cold, high-pressure life and many individuals migrate upward at night.
Smooth bandfish
Owstonia psilos
Owstonia psilos is a deepwater bandfish from off northwestern Australia - long, ribbon-bodied, reddish, and it has that neat black blotch up front on the dorsal fin. Its home turf is way down around 360-446 m, so its "cool factor" is real, but its natural lifestyle is totally a deep-reef, low-light thing rather than a normal home-aquarium fish.
Southern banded guitarfish
Zapteryx xyster
This is a little guitarfish from the tropical eastern Pacific that cruises sandy and rocky bottoms and comes out more at night to hunt. The coolest thing on adults is the yellow ocelli (eyespots) sitting in the dark bands across the back - it looks like someone dotted it with paint. It is a true saltwater ray-like elasmobranch, so think big footprint, lots of sand, and a heavy meaty diet.
Southern cardinalfish
Vincentia conspersa
This is a cool little temperate Aussie cardinalfish that spends the day tucked into caves and reef cracks, then comes out at night to hunt tiny crustaceans. The really neat part is breeding behavior - the male mouthbroods the eggs, so if you ever get a pair to spawn you will see him holding a big egg mass in his mouth for a while. Its a marine fish from southern Australia, so think "cooler reef tank" rather than a tropical reef setup.
Southern lightfish
Ichthyococcus australis
This is a deep-ocean little lightfish that lives way down in the dark and uses photophores (tiny light organs) for camouflage and signaling. It is a pelagic marine species from the southern hemisphere, and its whole vibe is "midwater stealth" rather than anything you would ever keep like a normal aquarium fish.
Southern Smiler
Opistognathus jacksoniensis
Australian jawfish found over sand/rubble near reefs where it constructs a burrow. Field references report it from ~20–30 m and often 30–50 m depths, suggesting it may be a deeper/temperate-affiliated species; aquarium care information appears limited compared to commonly kept tropical jawfishes. If attempted, provide deep mixed substrate with rubble/shell for burrow building and a tightly covered aquarium due to jumping risk.