Skip to content

Fish

Fish live in seas, oceans, rivers and lakes, with bodies adapted to moving and breathing underwater. Some are fast predators, while others use camouflage or have unusual body shapes.

Examples of fish

Examples include sharks, great white sharks, hammerhead sharks, tuna, piranhas, swordfish, sawfish and seahorses. These are very different animals, from small, unusually shaped fish to large marine predators.

Silvery asp with an elongated body and large mouth, seen from the side underwater

AspLeuciscus aspius

Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) swimming in an aquarium

Atlantic salmonSalmo salar

Large grey beluga sturgeon with a short snout, barbels and rows of bony plates swimming in blue water

Beluga sturgeonHuso huso

Blue and red betta fish with long, spread fins in an aquarium

Betta fishBetta splendens

Flat, sand-coloured turbot with both eyes on its upper side lying on the seabed

Black Sea turbotScophthalmus maeoticus

Dark grey Ancistrus with pale spots resting on gravel at the bottom of an aquarium

Bristlenose plecoAncistrus

Brown trout (Salmo trutta), showing its spotted body and body shape.

Brown troutSalmo trutta

Common barbel with an elongated snout and mouth barbels swimming near the bottom

Common barbelBarbus barbus

Silvery common bream showing its deep, laterally flattened body underwater

Common breamAbramis brama

Common carp showing its large scales and barbels beside the mouth

Common carpCyprinus carpio

A common clownfish with an orange body, three white bars and a rounded tail beside an anemone

Common clownfishAmphiprion ocellaris

Silvery common roach with an orange-red iris and reddish lower fins

Common roachRutilus rutilus

Corydoras catfish with a dark white-spotted body and orange fins on the aquarium floor

Corydoras catfishCorydoras

Blue discus with a round body, red eye and fine fin markings

DiscusSymphysodon

Small, slender silvery anchovy with a bluish back on a sandy seabed

European anchovyEngraulis encrasicolus

European chub with large scales, an elongated body and a broad head in an aquarium

European chubSqualius cephalus

European eel (Anguilla anguilla) with a long body and fins continuous around the tail

European eelAnguilla anguilla

European perch (Perca fluviatilis) viewed from the side underwater

European perchPerca fluviatilis

Silver freshwater angelfish with orange patches and dark markings beside aquatic plants

Freshwater angelfishPterophyllum scalare

Giant oceanic manta ray seen from the front and side in blue water with broad fins spread

Giant oceanic manta rayMobula birostris

Grey-brown round goby with a large head and high-set eyes resting on a bed of mussels

Goldfish (Carassius auratus) with orange scales

GoldfishCarassius auratus

Silvery-blue gourami with a dark spot on its side and white-spotted fins

GouramiTrichopodus

great white shark

Great white sharkCarcharodon carcharias

Male guppy with blue-green markings and a patterned yellow tail among aquatic plants

GuppyPoecilia reticulata

hammerhead shark

Hammerhead sharkSphyrnidae

Bright orange koi with black spots swimming in grey water

KoiCyprinus rubrofuscus

Lionfish with red and white stripes and long feather-like fins on a dark background

LionfishPterois

Silvery horse mackerel with large eyes and a lateral line of bony scutes on ice among other fish

Mediterranean horse mackerelTrachurus mediterraneus

Illustration of a giant megalodon shark with an open, tooth-filled mouth at the sea surface

MegalodonOtodus megalodon

Grey, finely spotted mollies swimming among green aquatic plants

MollyPoecilia sphenops

Brown moray eel with round yellowish spots poking its head out of a reef crevice

Moray eelMuraenidae

Neon tetra with a bright blue stripe and red lower rear half

Neon tetraParacheirodon innesi

Northern pike (Esox lucius), showing its elongated snout and pale body markings.

Northern pikeEsox lucius

Silver-grey ocean sunfish with a tall flattened body and long top and bottom fins

Ocean sunfishMola mola

Large dark Oscar fish with orange patches and a red eye on a black background

Oscar fishAstronotus ocellatus

piranha

PiranhaSerrasalmidae: piranhas, including Pygocentrus and Serrasalmus

Old illustration of a Pontic shad, an elongated fish with large scales and a forked tail

Pontic shadAlosa immaculata

Prussian carp seen from the side underwater

Prussian carpCarassius gibelio

White-spotted pufferfish with a small mouth swimming beside coral in blue water

PufferfishTetraodontidae

Pinkish-silver red mullet with red blotches and two chin barbels on a sandy seabed

Red mulletMullus barbatus

sawfish

SawfishPristidae

seahorse

SeahorseHippocampus

shark

SharkSelachimorpha (sharks within Chondrichthyes)

Yellow platy with red tones, a red head and black-edged fins on a dark background

Southern platyfishXiphophorus maculatus

Sterlet (Acipenser ruthenus), a sturgeon with a pointed snout and bony scutes

SturgeonAcipenseridae

swordfish

SwordfishXiphias gladius

Olive-green tench with a reddish eye swimming underwater

TenchTinca tinca

tuna

TunaThunnini (within Scombridae)

Wels catfish (Silurus glanis) swimming underwater

Wels catfishSilurus glanis

Side view of a white-spotted whale shark swimming through blue water among smaller fish

Whale sharkRhincodon typus

Zander (Sander lucioperca) with its elongated body and large eyes

ZanderSander lucioperca

Several small, slender zebrafish with blue and silver stripes along the body

ZebrafishDanio rerio