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
Yellow conger
Rhynchoconger flavus
Rhynchoconger flavus is the yellow conger, a burrowing, soft-bottom conger eel from the western Atlantic (Gulf of Mexico down toward the Amazon mouth). It gets truly huge (up to about 150 cm) and lives in deeper coastal water, so its "cool factor" is more in the wild-ecology/ID side than as an aquarium fish - this is not a realistic home tank species.
Yellow-edged lyretail
Variola louti
A big, flashy grouper with a lyre-shaped tail edged in yellow and a red-orange body sprinkled with pink-blue spots. It is an ambush hunter that can change its colors and pattern on the fly, which is wild to watch, but it grows huge and will eat any tankmate it can swallow.
Yelloweye filefish
Pervagor alternans
This is a little reef filefish with that classic sandpapery skin and a super eye-catching yellow ring around the eye. It spends a lot of time poking around rock and coral, and when it gets spooked it kind of eases back into crevices instead of bolting. Not the most common aquarium fish, but really neat if you can get one that is eating well.
Yellowfin croaker
Umbrina roncador
Yellowfin croaker is a nearshore drum that cruises sandy surf zones, bays, and harbors, usually in little schools. The cool giveaway is that single chin barbel - it uses it while rooting around for worms, crustaceans, and clams, and it can get surprisingly chunky for a "beach fish."
Yellow-lined shrimpgoby
Vanderhorstia flavilineata
This is a tiny sand-dwelling shrimp goby from Papua New Guinea that likes to hover right at the front door of a burrow and bolt inside when it gets spooked. In the wild it hangs out with an alpheid (pistol) shrimp in a rubble-lined burrow, which is exactly why it does best in a tank with a sand bed and some small rubble pieces it can use as "building material." Those yellow lines and little head spots pop way more than you'd expect from a fish that barely breaks an inch.
Yellowmouth jawfish
Opistognathus nothus
This is a deepwater Atlantic jawfish that lives in burrows on sand and rubble, and it has that classic jawfish vibe of popping up like a little periscope from its hole. The yellow edging inside the mouth is the giveaway, plus the spotty head and striped/yellow-edged fins. Because it comes from about 92-100 m depth, it is not something you should treat like a typical warm, shallow-reef jawfish in a home tank.
Yellow mystery wrasse
Pseudocheilinus citrinus
Think of this as the mystery wrasse’s lemony cousin from the far South Pacific. It stays small, flashes pink accents and cute little dorsal filaments, and spends its day weaving through rockwork picking off tiny critters. Super rare in the trade, but behavior and care are like other Pseudocheilinus wrasses.
Yellownose skate
Zearaja chilensis
This is a big, cold-water skate from Chilean waters that lives on sandy and muddy bottoms and lays those classic horned skate egg cases. It gets seriously large (around 1.5 m max reported on FishBase), so it is more of a fisheries and public-aquarium animal than a home-aquarium fish.
Yellow tang
Zebrasoma flavescens
If you want a fish that actually puts in work, the Yellow tang is a nonstop algae grazer that cruises the rockwork all day. Its bright solid-yellow color is the whole reason people fall in love with it, but the real trick is keeping it well-fed on greens so it stays chunky and less cranky. Give it strong flow, high oxygen, and enough swimming length and it will act like the little yellow boss of the reef.
Yellowtip halfbeak
Hemiramphus marginatus
This is a true marine halfbeak - it cruises right under the surface in open water and that goofy half-length lower jaw is exactly as cool in person as it sounds. Adults get pretty long (about 10 inches), so its more of a big, fast, jumpy schooling fish than a typical home-aquarium species.
Zebra goby
Zebrus zebrus
Tiny Mediterranean goby with bold zebra stripes that spends its day wedged under stones and seagrass like a little tide-pool ninja. It is shy but fun to watch once settled, picking at tiny critters and darting between rock crevices. Keep it in a stable marine setup and it will reward you with lots of peekaboo behavior.
Zebra sole
Zebrias crossolepis
Zebrias crossolepis is a small marine sole with bold zebra-like bands, the kind of flatfish that spends its life glued to the bottom and trying to vanish into sand. It is a subtropical, demersal species from the northwest Pacific (reported from Guangdong, China) and tops out at around 14 cm standard length, so it stays pretty compact for a flatfish.