Least concern
Widespread and not thought to be at risk. 111 fish on EveryFish so far.
Least Concern is the IUCN Red List category for species that have been assessed and are not close to qualifying as threatened. They are usually widespread and abundant. Many important food fish are in this category, including hilsa, rohu, skipjack tuna and Atlantic herring. Least Concern describes a species as a whole, worldwide; it does not mean that every local stock is healthy or well managed.
Common, not always safe
A fish can be Least Concern globally while particular populations are in trouble. Hilsa is widespread across the Bay of Bengal and its rivers, but its runs up the Ganges collapsed after the Farakka Barrage. Rohu and catla are abundant because they are farmed in huge numbers, while wild river stocks have declined. Herring stocks have crashed and recovered in different seas over the past century. Fisheries are managed stock by stock, so local assessments matter as much as the global category.
Back from the brink
Some fish have moved into Least Concern after recovering. The Atlantic bluefin tuna was listed as Endangered in 2011 after decades of overfishing; strict quotas set by the Atlantic tuna commission, ICCAT, and better enforcement let stocks recover, and in 2021 it was reassessed as Least Concern. Yellowfin tuna was moved from Near Threatened to Least Concern in the same update, though scientists warn that yellowfin in the Indian Ocean is still overfished.
Famous least concern fish
Still to be written: Ilish, Catla, Indian mackerel, Skipjack tuna, Atlantic bluefin tuna, Yellowfin tuna, Atlantic herring.
Further reading
🇵🇭 Philippines and 4 moreMilkfish
The sole living species of the family Chanidae, found across the Indo-Pacific.Other · Coasts and shelves
🇧🇼 Botswana and 1 moreAfrican tigerfish
Predatory freshwater fish known for sharp teeth and leaping hunting behaviour.Other · Rivers and lakes · 1861
🇺🇬 Uganda and 2 moreSilver cyprinid
A small pelagic fish from Lake Victoria that supports regional food security.Other · Rivers and lakes
🇺🇸 United States and 1 moreMexican tetra
A freshwater characin with surface and blind cave forms, studied for evolutionary biology.Other · Rivers and lakes
🇷🇺 RussiaComephorus
Two species of pelagic sculpins endemic to Lake Baikal in Russia.Other · Rivers and lakes · 1800
🇧🇷 BrazilBanded leporinus
A striped freshwater fish from the Amazon kept in home tanks and occasionally caught by anglers.Other · Rivers and lakes
WorldSnakehead
Elongated freshwater predators with air-breathing organs found in Asia and Africa.Other · Rivers and lakes
Southeast AsiaGiant snakehead
A large freshwater predator from Southeast Asia known for air breathing and invasive potential.Other · Rivers and lakes
🇷🇺 Russia and 3 moreBurbot
A coldwater freshwater fish with a chin whisker, native to the Northern Hemisphere.Other · Rivers and lakes · 1758
🇺🇸 United StatesWhite bass
A silver-striped freshwater fish native to North American rivers and lakes.Other · Rivers and lakes
🇧🇷 Brazil and 1 moreRed-bellied Pacu
A large South American freshwater fish related to piranhas, farmed for food and kept in aquariums.Other · Rivers and lakes
🇰🇭 Cambodia and 4 moreGyrinocheilus aymonieri
A Southeast Asian freshwater fish known for its suction-like mouth and role in the aquarium trade.Other · Rivers and lakes
🇰🇭 Cambodia and 3 moreMoonlight gourami
A small, silvery labyrinth fish native to Southeast Asian rivers and swamps.Other · Rivers and lakes
WorldBigeye trevally
A large marine fish found in tropical oceans, known for its nocturnal hunting and distinctive dark dorsal fin.Other · Coasts and shelves · 1825
Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Rohu: Wiki Farazi, CC0, source
- Milkfish: Wiki Farazi, CC0, source
- African tigerfish: Totti, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Silver cyprinid: Boulenger, George Albert; Loat, L., Public domain, source
- Mexican tetra: User:Haplochromis, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Comephorus: Unknown author, Public domain, source
- Banded leporinus: Ltshears, Public domain, source
- Snakehead: Sir Francis Day, Public domain, source
- Giant snakehead: George Chernilevsky, Public domain, source
- Burbot: Unknown author, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- White bass: Nick Loveland, CC0, source
- Red-bellied Pacu: Omnitarian, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Gyrinocheilus aymonieri: Pseudogastromyzon, Public domain, source
- Moonlight gourami: Photo by Greg Hume ( Greg5030 ), CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Bigeye trevally: Jens Petersen, CC BY 2.5, source