Search Species
Search for fish species by common or scientific name, or use filters to browse by water type, size, temperament, and difficulty.
Found 424 species
Scalycheek shrimpgoby
Vanderhorstia lepidobucca
This is a tiny shrimp-associated goby described from Sulawesi, Indonesia. Like other Vanderhorstia, it is associated with burrows made by alpheid snapping shrimp (Alpheus spp.), where the goby typically hovers/stands guard near the burrow entrance. Maximum reported size is 4.0 cm SL.
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.
Scopas tang
Zebrasoma scopas
Scopas tangs are earthy brown-to-olive Zebrasoma with fine blue‑green lines (becoming dots on the head). They spend the day grazing turf/film algae on rockwork and may become territorial with other tangs in tight quarters. In the wild they occur in small groups and sometimes larger grazing aggregations—behavior that can be echoed in very large reef systems.
Sea trumpeter
Pelsartia humeralis
Sea trumpeters are Aussie inshore grunters that like hanging around shallow seagrass beds and cruising in schools. They will literally grunt when handled, and the males guard and fan the eggs, which is pretty cool for a coastal marine fish.
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.
Serrated flathead
Rogadius serratus
Rogadius serratus is a sneaky little flathead that basically lives glued to the bottom, blending into sand and rubble like a living leaf-litter camouflage job. It is the kind of fish that does almost nothing until food shows up, then it strikes fast. Super cool look up close, but it is absolutely not a community tank fish.
Shark mackerel
Grammatorcynus bicarinatus
This is a fast, open-water mackerel that cruises reef edges and offshore areas and grows into a serious, one-meter-class fish. It is a saltwater predator built for speed, so its whole vibe is chasing baitfish in the water column, not hanging around rocks like a typical reef tank fish. Awesome animal, but it is absolutely not an aquarium species unless you are talking public-aquarium scale.
Sharphead perch
Lepidoperca magna
Sharphead perch is a deepwater basslet from Australia and New Zealand that hangs out on seamount slopes hundreds of meters down. It tops out around 27 cm and would want cool, dim, rockwork-heavy seawater, so it is really a public-aquarium fish rather than a home-tank candidate.
Sharpnose sand eel
Ichthyapus acutirostris
Ichthyapus acutirostris is a finless snake eel (worm eel) that spends a lot of its life buried in sand or mud with just the head out, waiting to grab small prey. Its whole vibe is stealth and hiding, which is super cool to watch in a big, mature marine setup with a deep, fine sand bed. This is not an aquarium-trade fish with a well-established care playbook, so most "care" info out there is guesswork.
Sharpnose sevengill shark
Heptranchias perlo
A deepwater sevengill with big green eyes and a narrow snout, this shark cruises outer shelves picking off squid, crustaceans, and small fishes. It reaches about 1.4 m and looks wild under lights because its eyes glow green. Super cool animal, but strictly a public aquarium species, not a home tank fish.
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.