Search Species
Search for fish species by common or scientific name, or use filters to browse by water type, size, temperament, and difficulty.
Found 528 species
Kobe flounder
Crossorhombus kobensis
A small lefteye flounder (Bothidae) from the Northwest Pacific that lives on sand and shell bottoms at 50–275 m depth. Males develop a dark-blue stain on the blind side and an elongated filamentous pectoral fin. It is a marine, demersal, temperate species of no fishery interest and is not seen in the aquarium trade.
Kuiter's deepsea clingfish
Kopua kuiteri
Kopua kuiteri is a tiny deepwater clingfish from southern Australia that lives way down on the seafloor, not in the usual home-aquarium world. It is the kind of fish that sticks to hard surfaces with a suction disc and is basically a cool biology oddball rather than something you will realistically keep at home.
Kulbicki's pipefish
Festucalex kulbickii
This is a tiny reef pipefish from the western-central Pacific that hangs around coastal reefs and blends in with bands and ridges like a little living piece of reef debris. Like other syngnathids, the male broods the eggs in a pouch, which is honestly one of the coolest fish-family flexes in the hobby. It is not a commonly kept aquarium fish, and there are basically no solid reports of long-term captive success for this exact species, so I would treat it as a specialist-only pipefish.
Lanceolate shrimpgoby
Tomiyamichthys lanceolatus
This is a little sand-bottom shrimp goby from sheltered lagoons and bays in the western Pacific. It hangs close to its burrow on fine sand or mud and does the classic goby thing of hovering and darting back to cover when spooked. The lance-shaped tail and the bold side blotches make it a really neat, understated fish if you are into sandbed micro-predators.
Lancer red banner blenny
Emblemariopsis lancea
This is a tiny little Caribbean tube blenny that lives tucked into holes in reef rock, corals, and even sponges, basically poking its head out like a grumpy periscope. The showy part is the male display - a darkened head with an anterior dorsal fin that can flash a red-over-white "banner" when it is posturing.
Large-eye bigscale
Poromitra megalops
Tiny deep-sea ridgehead from the Atlantic with huge eyes, living in cold, dark water hundreds of meters down. It tops out around two-and-a-half inches and hangs in the mesopelagic-bathypelagic zone, which is awesome to read about but not something you can realistically keep at home.
Largehead lizardfish
Synodus macrocephalus
Think of a little torpedo that lounges on the sand until dinner swims by - that is this lizardfish. Compact for its clan but still a serious ambush predator, it shows off that classic toothy grin and watchful, lizard-like head.
Leaf-nose legskate
Springeria folirostris
This is a deepwater skate from the Gulf of Mexico with a really funky leaf-like snout extension and those "leg-like" pelvic fins skates are famous for. It lives way down on soft mud/sand bottoms, so its whole vibe is slow, bottom-oriented, and built for cruising the seabed rather than darting around the water column.
Leichhardt's velvetfish
Kanekonia leichhardti
This is a tiny, bottom-hugging velvetfish from northern Australia that lives out on deeper, gritty sand. Its whole vibe is camouflage and sitting still, and it is absolutely not an aquarium trade fish - more of a scientific-record species than something you will ever see for sale.
Little conger eel
Gnathophis habenatus
A sleek temperate conger from southern seas, it tops out around 17 inches and has a neat silvery head with a dusky fin edge. It spends the day tucked into sand or rubble and comes out at night to hunt little fish and crustaceans. Super interesting to keep if you are into cold-salt setups, but it really needs a chiller and lots of cover.
Lombok viviparous brotula
Paradiancistrus lombokensis
This is a tiny, super-cryptic marine brotula from around Lombok, Indonesia - the kind of fish that lives tucked deep in reef cracks where you basically never see it. The really neat part is its group (viviparous brotulas) gives live birth, so its biology is way cooler than its shy little "hide in the rocks" lifestyle suggests.
Longfin dragonfish
Tactostoma macropus
This is a true deep-sea dragonfish - jet-black, eel-like, and built for hunting in the dark midwater. It comes up shallower at night and has that classic stomiid vibe: big mouth, nasty teeth, and a whole lot of "made for the abyss" energy. Not an aquarium fish in any practical sense, but a super cool species to read about.