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
Abe's eelpout
Japonolycodes abei
Japonolycodes abei is a temperate, deepwater demersal eelpout (family Zoarcidae) endemic to Japan (Kumano-nada Sea reported; other sources also report Sagami Bay and Tosa Bay). It is the only species in the genus Japonolycodes and occurs roughly 40-300 m depth, making it an uncommon/atypical aquarium species.
Affinis blind cusk-eel
Barathronus affinis
Barathronus affinis is a tiny, super-weird deep-sea blind cusk-eel from the western-central Indian Ocean. It is one of those gelatinous, loose-skinned brotula-type fishes that live way down in the dark and are basically never seen alive, so almost everything we know comes from preserved specimens and taxonomic work.
African red snapper
Lutjanus agennes
This is a true snapper from West Africa - a big, fast-growing predator that goes from coastal reefs to brackish lagoons and estuaries (especially as a juvenile). Super cool fish in the wild, but it gets absolutely huge and will eat smaller tankmates once it has the mouth for it, so its really more of a public-aquarium scale animal than a home-aquarium fish.
Aleutian skate
Bathyraja aleutica
This is a big, cold-water deep-slope skate from the North Pacific that cruises muddy bottoms and eats chunky benthic prey like crabs and shrimp. The really cool bit is its egg-laying skate life - it does distinct pairing (the classic skate "embrace") and drops those tough egg cases on the seafloor. Not an aquarium fish at all unless you're basically running a public-aquarium-style chilled system.
Allis shad
Alosa alosa
Gorgeous silver, fast-swimming shad that spends most of its life in the sea and then surges up big rivers in noisy, surface-spawning schools. It grows huge for a herring-type fish and needs cool, ultra-oxygenated water and tons of open space, so it is a public-aquarium species rather than a home tank fish.
Annandale's zebra sole
Zebrias annandalei
Zebrias annandalei is a small demersal sole from coastal India that inhabits sandy or muddy bottoms and buries for camouflage. It is rarely kept in home aquaria and would require a specialized marine sand-bottom setup and appropriate feeding.
Antarctic dragonfish
Vomeridens infuscipinnis
Deep down around Antarctica, this sleek dragonfish cruises the water column like a little submarine, nearly neutrally buoyant so it can hover above the seafloor. It munches almost exclusively on Antarctic krill and lives in near-freezing water 500-800 m down, so it is a cool species to read about, not one for home tanks.
Arabian demoiselle
Neopomacentrus sindensis
A small lyretail damsel from the Persian Gulf and Arabian Sea, it hangs in loose groups around coral heads, rocks, and even pier pilings picking zooplankton from the flow. Think classic damsel toughness with a slightly milder attitude than the real bruisers, plus subtle yellow tail accents. Males clean a patch, get a mate to lay eggs there, and then stand guard fanning the clutch.
Arabian spiny eel
Notacanthus indicus
Notacanthus indicus is a deep-sea spiny eel (family Notacanthidae; not a true eel) known from the Arabian Sea on the continental slope at roughly ~960–1,046 m depth, with reported maximum length around 20 cm TL; it is a deep-water bycatch species and not established in the aquarium trade.
Arctic rockling
Gaidropsarus argentatus
This is a deepwater North Atlantic rockling (a cod relative) that hangs out on soft bottoms way down the slope. It is a cold-water, bottom-hugging predator that snoots around for crustaceans and will also take small fish when it gets the chance.
Atlantic pomfret
Brama brama
Brama brama is the Atlantic pomfret (aka Ray's bream) - a deep-bodied, open-ocean pelagic fish that cruises around in small schools and follows water temps. It is a legit big, wild marine species (not an aquarium fish) that eats other small sea critters like fish and squid, and it ranges across a huge chunk of the Atlantic plus parts of the Indian and South Pacific.
Australian sawtail catshark
Figaro boardmani
Figaro boardmani is a small, deepwater Australian catshark with these cool saw-like ridges of spiny denticles along the tail and a neat pattern of dark saddle bands. It lives way down on the outer continental shelf and slope, so its natural water is cold, dim, and stable - totally not a typical home-aquarium fish. Diet-wise its a predator that goes after fish, crustaceans, and cephalopods.