Search Species
Search for fish species by common or scientific name, or use filters to browse by water type, size, temperament, and difficulty.
Water Type
Search for fish species by common or scientific name, or use filters to browse by water type, size, temperament, and difficulty.
Found 249 species
Umbrina steindachneri
Umbrina steindachneri is a West African marine croaker/drum that hangs around sandy-mud bottoms in deeper coastal water. It tops out around 47 cm (about 18.5 inches), so its size alone is the big reason it is not really an aquarium fish even though it is super cool as a real-deal saltwater surf and shelf species.
Gobius vittatus
A small Mediterranean marine goby found mainly on coralligenous/rocky bottoms (often ~15-50+ m), known for its pale body with a dark lateral stripe; it is shy and retreats quickly to crevices. In aquaria it is a cool-water Mediterranean species rather than a typical tropical reef goby.
Rathbunella alleni
Rathbunella alleni is a little bottom-hugging coastal marine fish from California down into Baja, the kind that spends its time tucked around structure and cruising the seafloor. Its claim to fame is that slick blue stripe running along the anal fin (especially noticeable on males), plus that blenny-ish, prickleback vibe that makes it look like it belongs in a tidepool documentary.
Diaphus suborbitalis
This is a little deep-sea lanternfish from the Indo-West Pacific that spends its life way down in the dark and uses photophores (light organs) like a built-in nightlight. It tops out around 7.3 cm standard length and is a true pelagic ocean fish, not something you will realistically see in the aquarium trade.
Wetmorella tanakai
This is one of those tiny, sneaky reef wrasses that basically lives in the rockwork and pops out to hunt little micro-bugs all day. The red-orange body with thin white bars and those little "eye spots" on the fins make it a really cool "where did that fish come from?" kind of addition. It is super peaceful, but it does best in a mature reef where it can graze and not get pushed around.
Lipocheilus carnolabrum
This is a deepwater snapper with a really distinctive "lumpy" fleshy upper lip - once you know that look, you spot it right away. It lives way down on rocky shelf bottoms and is more of a food-fish than an aquarium fish, mostly because it gets big and comes from colder, deeper water than a typical reef tank setup.
Tubbia tasmanica
Tubbia tasmanica (the Tasmanian ruffe) is a deepwater medusafish from cold temperate seas around Tasmania/New Zealand and even off South Africa. Its a big, offshore trawl-caught species that lives way down in the dark - so its not really an aquarium fish, but its a neat example of those weird, open-ocean/deepwater "rudderfish" types.
Jaydia tchefouensis
Jaydia tchefouensis is a little marine cardinalfish (Apogonidae) originally described from Chefoo/Tche-Fou (modern Yantai), China. Real talk: this name is kind of messy in the literature and may actually be a junior synonym of Jaydia lineata, so you will almost never see it sold under this exact ID in the aquarium trade. Like other cardinalfish, expect a shy, nocturnal vibe that hangs near structure and picks off small meaty foods.
Pontinus tentacularis
Pontinus tentacularis is a deepwater scorpionfish with those wild little tentacles over the eyes that help it break up its outline. It is a bottom-dwelling ambush predator from 170-600 m, so its needs are way more like a cold, dim, pressure-adapted fish than anything meant for a typical home marine tank.
Nemipterus theodorei
Nemipterus theodorei is a saltwater threadfin bream from eastern Australia with that pinkish-mauve body, clean little yellow-green striping, and a red spot on the side. Its a sand-and-mud bottom cruiser from deeper coastal water, so its really more of a wild marine/fishery species than something youd realistically keep in a home aquarium.
Yirrkala tenuis
Yirrkala tenuis is a skinny little snake eel that spends a lot of its time tucked into sand or soft bottom, with just the head poking out when it feels like it. It is a Western Indian Ocean species (Red Sea area down to South Africa, plus islands like Mauritius and Reunion), and it can get surprisingly long for how "thin" it looks - over 50 cm.
Freemanichthys thompsoni
Freemanichthys thompsoni is a temperate, demersal marine poacher (family Agonidae) from the northwestern Pacific, reported from roughly 10–300 m depth and reaching about 22 cm total length. Because it is a coldwater/deeper-water species, it is rarely suitable for typical tropical marine aquaria and would require specialized chilled, high-oxygen systems if kept.