Search Species
Search for fish species by common or scientific name, or use filters to browse by water type, size, temperament, and difficulty.
Found 275 species
Scaly-headed triplefin
Karalepis stewarti
This is a New Zealand triplefin that hugs rocky reef structure and comes out more at night, so you often spot it perched and watching everything rather than cruising the water column. It tops out around 15 cm and lives in cool-temperate coastal water, picking at tiny crustaceans and mollusks.
Seba's goby
Feia seba
Feia seba is a tiny little marine goby from Papua New Guinea that lives tight to the reef and spends a lot of time perching and darting between cover. Its whole vibe is "blink and you miss it" - super small, super subtle, and really more of a nano reef curiosity than a fish you build a tank around.
Sharpchin flyingfish
Fodiator acutus
Think of this as the ocean’s little glider — a sleek, silvery fish that can burst out of the water and coast on those oversized fins. It cruises near the surface in warm seas and snaps up tiny drifting critters. Super cool to watch in the wild, but it really belongs in the open ocean, not a living room tank.
Sharpnose wrasse
Wetmorella nigropinnata
This is one of those tiny, sneaky reef wrasses that lives in the rockwork - you'll see it poking its little sharp snout into cracks hunting micro-prey. Super peaceful and shy, but once it settles in, its yellow bars and twitchy 'possum wrasse' vibes are seriously addictive to watch.
Shiner anchovy
Encrasicholina intermedia
Encrasicholina intermedia is a tiny, open-water anchovy from the western Indian Ocean that spends its life cruising the coastal shallows in big, nervous schools. In the wild it is basically bite-sized forage fish, constantly picking off plankton and flashing around near the surface - super cool behavior, but it is not really a normal home-aquarium species.
Shortband herring
Jenkinsia stolifera
Jenkinsia stolifera is a tiny, super-flashy little round herring from Florida and the Caribbean that spends its life in tight, nervous schools near the surface. In the wild it is basically living fish confetti - tons of silver, constant motion, always picking at zooplankton - and that "always on the move" vibe is what makes it so cool. It is not really an aquarium species though; most setups cannot provide the huge swimming room, flow, and constant live plankton-style feeding it does best with.
Shorthead sole
Brachirus breviceps
Brachirus breviceps (the shorthead sole) is a little bottom-hugging flatfish from Australia that lives right on soft sand or mud in shallow coastal water. Its whole thing is staying camouflaged and half-buried, so it is more of a "you spot it and smile" fish than a constant swimmer. Also worth knowing up front: there is basically no solid aquarium-care info published specifically for this exact species, so any tank recommendations are best treated as cautious, general "small sole" guidelines.
Shortjaw goatfish
Upeneus brevignathus
Upeneus brevignathus is a marine goatfish (family Mullidae) described in 2024 and currently known from the NW Indian Ocean (off SE Yemen). Like other goatfishes it has chin barbels used to locate benthic prey; captive suitability is not specifically documented for this species and would be inferred from general goatfish husbandry.
Shortspine cardinalfish
Ostorhinchus brevispinis
This is a small deepwater cardinalfish from French Polynesia. It has alternating brown/golden-brown and whitish longitudinal stripes and a dark mark on the caudal peduncle; the name refers to its very short first dorsal-fin spine.
Short-tail lanternfish
Gymnoscopelus opisthopterus
This is a coldwater deep-sea lanternfish from the Southern Ocean that spends its life way down in the dark and uses photophores (light organs) like a little living constellation. Its habitat is near-freezing and very deep, so it is really a research-specimen kind of fish rather than something that can be kept in a normal aquarium.
Silverbelly cardinalfish
Jaydia photogaster
Jaydia photogaster is a small, nocturnal cardinalfish from the western Pacific that hangs around deeper lagoon patch reefs and tends to be seen solo or in little loose groups. The really neat bit is the silvery belly light-organ system (hence the name) and the subtle dusky bars down the sides - it is one of those understated fish that looks way cooler the longer you stare at it.
Silver cusk
Glyptophidium argenteum
Glyptophidium argenteum is a deepwater/bathydemersal cusk-eel (Ophidiidae) from the Indo-West Pacific (e.g., Bay of Bengal to the Philippines) recorded hundreds of meters deep. It is primarily known from scientific/monitoring collections and deepwater fisheries bycatch rather than the aquarium trade.