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SpeciesScientists Discover Mysterious New Fish in the Red Sea – and Have Never Seen It AgainOceanEye to eye with Britain's hidden sharks at SharkAdemy - OceanographicRiversIn October, biologists surveying a New York harbor for invasive fish pulled up a bright yellow one. It wasn't an invasive species at allOceanShedd Aquarium Sends Shark Eggs to Bolster Wild PopulationsSpeciesA rare fish has been found in Lake Ontario, North America, whose entire body is golden. It is a nati..OceanThe Great Sea Reef Is Fiji’s Wildest Dive, and a New Frontier for ConservationOceanEckerd College professor contributes to designating Biscayne Bay an Important Shark and Ray AreaSpeciesRio Verde Grande Survey Identifies Fifty-Three Fish Species Facing Flow ReductionsFisheriesAdams River Salmon Run in Thompson-NicolaIndiaHilsa production dropped 26% in five years, fisheries minister tells parliamentSpeciesScientists Discover Mysterious New Fish in the Red Sea – and Have Never Seen It AgainOceanEye to eye with Britain's hidden sharks at SharkAdemy - OceanographicRiversIn October, biologists surveying a New York harbor for invasive fish pulled up a bright yellow one. It wasn't an invasive species at allOceanShedd Aquarium Sends Shark Eggs to Bolster Wild PopulationsSpeciesA rare fish has been found in Lake Ontario, North America, whose entire body is golden. It is a nati..OceanThe Great Sea Reef Is Fiji’s Wildest Dive, and a New Frontier for ConservationOceanEckerd College professor contributes to designating Biscayne Bay an Important Shark and Ray AreaSpeciesRio Verde Grande Survey Identifies Fifty-Three Fish Species Facing Flow ReductionsFisheriesAdams River Salmon Run in Thompson-NicolaIndiaHilsa production dropped 26% in five years, fisheries minister tells parliament
EveryFish

Kinds of fish

The broad family groups people know fish by.

SharksWhale shark, great white, hammerheads and the bull shark of rivers.11Rays and skatesMantas, stingrays, sawfish, guitarfish and electric rays.1Carps and minnowsRohu, catla, mrigal, mahseer, koi, goldfish and barbs.12CatfishesSinghi, magur, pangas, wels and the Mekong giant catfish.3Salmon and troutAtlantic and Pacific salmon, the trouts, char and whitefish.5Herrings and sardinesHilsa, oil sardine, herring, shad and anchovies.2Cods and hakesAtlantic cod, haddock, pollock and the hakes.0Tunas and mackerelsBluefin, yellowfin and skipjack, the Indian mackerel and seer fish.0Perches, basses and snappersSnappers, groupers, sea bass, perch, pomfret and the barramundi.12CichlidsTilapia, the pearlspot (karimeen), angelfish, discus and the cichlids of the African lakes.3Reef fishClownfish, wrasses, parrotfish, surgeonfish, angelfish and butterflyfish.0EelsFreshwater and moray eels, conger and the swamp eels.3FlatfishSole, plaice, halibut, flounder and turbot.0Killifish and livebearersGuppies, mollies, platies, swordtails and the killifish.6Ancient fishCoelacanths, lungfish, sturgeons, gars, bichirs and lampreys.36Other fishSeahorses, pufferfish, anglerfish, gobies, flying fish and the rest.60

Sharks

Sharks are cartilaginous fish: their skeletons are made of cartilage, not bone, their skin is covered in tooth-like scales and they have five to seven gill slits on each side. There are more than 500 species, from the dwarf lanternshark, which fits in a hand, to the whale shark, the largest fish alive

Rays and skates

Rays and skates are cartilaginous fish, close relatives of sharks, with bodies flattened from top to bottom and pectoral fins joined to the head to form wide wings. Their gill slits are on the underside, and they breathe through spiracles behind the eyes while resting on the bottom

Carps and minnows

Carps and minnows belong to the order Cypriniformes, which with more than 4,000 species is the largest group of freshwater fish. They have no teeth in their jaws, grinding food with throat teeth instead, and many have barbels and a link between the swim bladder and the ear that gives them keen hearing

Catfishes

Catfishes, the order Siluriformes, are named for the whisker-like barbels around their mouths. There are more than 3,000 species, roughly one in ten of all fish, living on every continent except Antarctica, mostly in fresh water

Salmon and trout

The salmon family, Salmonidae, includes the salmons, trouts, chars, graylings and whitefishes, about 200 species of cold, clean waters in the Northern Hemisphere. They have a small adipose fin on the back near the tail and a streamlined, spotted body

Herrings and sardines

Herrings, sardines, shads and anchovies, the order Clupeiformes, are small to medium silvery fish that travel in huge schools and filter plankton from the water. There are around 400 species

Cods and hakes

Cods and hakes belong to the order Gadiformes, fish of cool and cold seas with soft fins, often three dorsal fins and a single barbel on the chin. The group includes Atlantic cod, haddock, pollock, saithe, whiting, the hakes and the grenadiers of the deep sea

Tunas and mackerels

The mackerel family, Scombridae, holds about 50 species of tunas, mackerels, bonitos and Spanish mackerels. They are built for speed: torpedo-shaped bodies, a crescent tail on a slim base, fins that fold into grooves and a row of small finlets near the tail

Perches, basses and snappers

Perches, basses, snappers and their relatives are spiny-finned fish: the front of their dorsal fin is held up by sharp spines, their scales are rough-edged and their pelvic fins sit far forward. For long they were grouped in one vast order, Perciformes, with thousands of species; DNA studies have since split the group, but the name perch-like fish remains in use

Cichlids

Cichlids are a family of perch-like fish of fresh and brackish water in Africa, the Americas and South Asia. With more than 1,700 described species and many more awaiting names, they are one of the largest families of vertebrates

Reef fish

Reef fish is not a scientific group but a way of life: the many families of fish that live on and around coral reefs. Damselfish and clownfish, wrasses, parrotfish, surgeonfish, butterflyfish, angelfish, gobies, groupers and snappers make up most of them

Eels

True eels, the order Anguilliformes, are long, snake-shaped fish with no pelvic fins and, in most species, a single long fin running around the back, tail and belly. There are about 900 species, from the freshwater eels of rivers worldwide to moray eels of reefs, conger eels and burrowing snake eels

Flatfish

Flatfish, the order Pleuronectiformes, lie on one side on the sea floor with both eyes on the upper side of the head. They hatch as normal upright larvae, and one eye moves across the head as they grow

Killifish and livebearers

Killifish and livebearers, the order Cyprinodontiformes, are small fish of fresh and brackish water, mostly in the Americas and Africa. The livebearers, such as guppies, mollies, platies and swordtails, give birth to free-swimming young; the males have an anal fin shaped into a mating organ

Ancient fish

Ancient fish is a loose name for the living members of very old lineages: lampreys and hagfish, which have no jaws; sturgeons and paddlefish; gars, bowfin and bichirs, with their heavy armoured scales; and the lobe-finned coelacanths and lungfish, close relatives of the first animals to walk on land. Together they number only a few hundred species, but they record the deep history of fish.

Other fish

Many fish do not fit the familiar groups. Seahorses and pipefish, pufferfish and ocean sunfish, anglerfish, flying fish, oarfish, mudskippers, gobies, archerfish and lizardfish each belong to their own branches of the fish family tree

The weekly digest

Every Monday: the fish of the day, new pages on EveryFish, and the conferences and anniversaries of the week ahead.