The timeline
Every fish with a known date, decade by decade. Pick a decade to see each year.
The 2010s 1 fish
The 2000s 1 fish
The 1990s 2 fish
The 1980s 1 fish
The 1960s 1 fish
The 1940s 1 fish
The 1930s 2 fish
The 1900s 5 fish
🇰🇪 Kenya and 4 moreRipon barbel
A large freshwater cyprinid from East African lakes and rivers.Carp · Rivers and lakes · 1900
WorldTelescopefish
Deep-sea fish with tubular eyes and an elongated tail fin.Other · Deep sea · 1901
🇺🇸 United StatesPallid sturgeon
An endangered North American sturgeon species native to the Missouri and Mississippi river basins.Ancient · Rivers and lakes · 1905
🇧🇷 Brazil and 4 moreMawsonia
Extinct giant coelacanth from the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods.Ancient · Rivers and lakes · 1907
The 1890s 1 fish
The 1880s 2 fish
The 1870s 5 fish
🇦🇺 AustraliaAustralian lungfish
Ancient air-breathing fish endemic to Queensland rivers, known for its longevity and living fossil status.Ancient · Rivers and lakes · 1871
🇷🇺 Russia and 2 moreKaluga
A massive semi-anadromous sturgeon from the Amur River basin hunted for caviar.Ancient · Rivers and lakes · 1872
🇺🇸 United States and 1 morePacific lamprey
An anadromous parasitic jawless fish found along the Pacific Rim.Ancient · Rivers and lakes · 1872
🇺🇸 United States and 3 moreStethacanthus
Extinct Devonian-Carboniferous shark with a distinctive anvil-shaped dorsal fin.Shark · Coasts and shelves · 1874
The 1860s 5 fish
🇺🇸 United States and 1 moreSpotted gar
A small North American freshwater fish with a long snout and spotted scales.Ancient · Rivers and lakes · 1860
🇧🇼 Botswana and 1 moreAfrican tigerfish
Predatory freshwater fish known for sharp teeth and leaping hunting behaviour.Other · Rivers and lakes · 1861
WorldSnailfish
A family of marine ray-finned fishes found from shallow coasts to the deepest ocean trenches.Other · Coasts and shelves · 1861
🇨🇳 ChinaChinese paddlefish
A giant freshwater predator from China that is now extinct.Ancient · Rivers and lakes · 1862
The 1850s 5 fish
🇺🇸 United States and 1 moreDesert pupfish
Small desert fish that survives extreme heat and saltOther · Rivers and lakes · 1853
🇺🇸 United States and 2 moreBluegill
A common North American sunfish known for its blue gill covers and popularity with anglers.Perch-like · Rivers and lakes · 1854
🇨🇳 China and 1 moreMandarin fish
Freshwater predatory perch native to East AsiaPerch-like · Rivers and lakes · 1855
🇺🇸 United States and 1 moreKnightia
Extinct herring-like fish from the Green River Formation, famous for its abundant fossils.Herring · Rivers and lakes · 1856
The 1840s 5 fish
WorldMegalodon
Extinct giant mackerel shark from the Miocene to Pliocene epochs.Shark · Coasts and shelves · 1843
🇧🇯 Benin and 4 moreSaddled bichir
A large African freshwater fish with primitive lungs and multiple dorsal finlets.Ancient · Rivers and lakes · 1845
🇧🇷 Brazil and 4 moreHoplias aimara
A large freshwater predator from South America known for its size and mercury accumulation.Other · Rivers and lakes · 1846
WorldChaunax
A genus of deep-sea anglerfishes known for their large mouths and luring habits.Shark · Deep sea · 1846
The 1830s 5 fish
WorldArowana
Freshwater bony fish with a toothed bone in the mouth and air-breathing ability.Ancient · Rivers and lakes · 1831
🇺🇸 United States and 1 moreSauger
A freshwater perch species native to North American rivers.Perch-like · Rivers and lakes · 1834
🇬🇧 United Kingdom and 1 moreFerox trout
Large predatory trout native to deep glacial lakes in Britain and Ireland.Salmonid · Rivers and lakes · 1835
WorldAtlantic footballfish
Deep-sea anglerfish with a glowing lureOther · Open ocean · 1837
The 1820s 9 fish
WorldCretoxyrhina
Extinct Cretaceous mackerel shark known as the Ginsu sharkShark · Open ocean · 1822
🇧🇷 Brazil and 4 moreArapaima
Giant air-breathing freshwater fish of the AmazonOther · Rivers and lakes · 1822
WorldDanio
A genus of small striped freshwater fish from Asia kept in aquaria.Other · Rivers and lakes · 1822
🇺🇸 United StatesShovelnose sturgeon
Smallest North American freshwater sturgeon, known for its shovel-shaped snout and caviar production.Ancient · Rivers and lakes · 1820
The 1810s 2 fish
The 1800s 4 fish
🇷🇺 RussiaComephorus
Two species of pelagic sculpins endemic to Lake Baikal in Russia.Other · Rivers and lakes · 1800
WorldViperfish
Deep-sea fish with fang-like teeth and bioluminescent lures in the genus Chauliodus.Other · Open ocean · 1801
🇺🇸 United States and 4 moreLargemouth bass
A large freshwater predator native to North America, prized by anglers and invasive in many regions.Other · Rivers and lakes · 1802
🇺🇸 United StatesWhite sucker
A common North American freshwater cypriniform fish with fleshy lips used for bottom feeding.Other · Rivers and lakes · 1803
The 1790s 3 fish
🇺🇸 United States and 3 moreSockeye salmon
Anadromous Pacific salmon known for red spawning colour and zooplankton diet.Salmonid · Rivers and lakes · 1792
🇺🇸 United StatesAmerican paddlefish
Ancient freshwater fish with a sensory snout and filter-feeding habits.Ancient · Rivers and lakes · 1792
🇺🇸 United States and 2 morePumpkinseed
A small freshwater fish native to eastern North America, known for its bright colours and red ear flap.Perch-like · Rivers and lakes · 1793
The 1770s 1 fish
The 1760s 5 fish
WorldBasking shark
The second-largest living fish, a slow-moving filter feeder found in temperate oceans worldwide.Shark · Coasts and shelves · 1765
WorldGrenadiers
Deep-sea gadiform fish with slender bodies and long tails, found globally in ocean depths.Other · Deep sea · 1765
🇸🇷 Suriname and 2 moreRedeye piranha
A large freshwater fish from South America with a rhombus-shaped body and red eyes.Other · Rivers and lakes · 1766
🇩🇪 Germany and 4 moreZingel
A fast-water perch from southeastern Europe.Perch-like · Rivers and lakes · 1766
The 1750s 9 fish
🇪🇬 Egypt and 4 moreNile tilapia
A hardy cichlid farmed globally for food.Cichlid · Rivers and lakes · 1758
🇺🇸 United States and 4 moreSea lamprey
A jawless, parasitic fish native to the Northern Hemisphere that attacks other fish.Ancient · Rivers and lakes · 1758
🇷🇺 RussiaSterlet
A small Eurasian sturgeon found in rivers flowing to the Black, Azov, and Caspian seas.Ancient · Rivers and lakes · 1758
WorldGreat white shark
A large, globally distributed predator known for its size and apex status in marine ecosystems.Shark · Coasts and shelves · 1758
Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Great white shark: Sharkdiver.com, Public domain, source
- Nile tilapia: Bjørn Christian Tørrissen, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Sea lamprey: Fernando Losada Rodríguez, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Sockeye salmon: Timothy Knepp of the Fish and Wildlife Service., Public domain, source
- Hairy angler: No machine-readable author provided. Tambja assumed (based on copyrigh, CC BY-SA 2.5, source
- Viperfish: NOAA Ocean Exploration, Voyage to the Ridge 2022, Public domain, source
- Sterlet: Karelj, Public domain, source
- Lungfish: Unknown author, CC BY-SA 2.5, source
- Shortnose sturgeon: Unknown author, Public domain, source
- Kaluga: あおもりくま（Aomorikuma）, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Shovelnose sturgeon: Kbh3rd, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Pallid sturgeon: USFWS Fish and Aquatic Conservation, Public domain, source
- Saddled bichir: Studdart, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Mooneye: Kevmin, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Megalodon: Géry PARENT, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Guiyu oneiros: Sun Jiao (Interaccoonale), CC BY 4.0, source
- Mawsonia: Ghedoghedo, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Stethacanthus: Dmitry Bogdanov, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- African tigerfish: Totti, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Knightia: Wilson44691, CC0, source
- Ripon barbel: Georges Albert Boulenger, Public domain, source
- Haplochromis: User:Haplochromis, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Largemouth bass: Totti, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Pumpkinseed: Cephas, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Sauger: Duane Raver, Public domain, source
- Redeye piranha: Torox, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Desert pupfish: jkirkhart35, CC BY 2.0, source
- White sucker: Brian Gratwicke, CC BY 2.0, source
- Delta smelt: Peterson, B. Moose / U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Public domain, source
- American paddlefish: Timothy Knepp, Public domain, source
- Comephorus: Unknown author, Public domain, source
- Siamese tigerfish: Unknown author, CC BY-SA 2.5, source
- Zingel: Zsoldos Márton, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Ferox trout: Alexander Francis Lydon (1836-1917), Public domain, source
- Indonesian coelacanth: Unknown author, CC BY-SA 2.5, source
- West Indian Ocean coelacanth: sybarite48, CC BY 2.0, source
- Mandarin fish: Andshel, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Atlantic footballfish: Unknown author, CC BY-SA 2.5, source
- Hoplias aimara: Lars Simonsen, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Cretoxyrhina: Creator:Dmitry Bogdanov, CC BY 3.0, source
- Snailfish: Erin McKittrick, CC BY 4.0, source
- Chinese paddlefish: Muséum d'histoire Naturelle, Public domain, source
- Sacabambaspis: Bloopityboop, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Bluegill: Fredlyfish4, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Basking shark: Greg Skomal / NOAA Fisheries Service, Public domain, source
- Leedsichthys: Dmitry Bogdanov, CC BY 3.0, source
- Arapaima: George Chernilevsky, Public domain, source
- Spotted gar: Brian.gratwicke on English Wikipedia, CC BY 2.5, source
- Pacific lamprey: Dave Herasimtschuk, US Fish & Wildlife Service, Public domain, source
- Telescopefish: Unknown author, Public domain, source
- Chaunax: Robert Mintern, Public domain, source
- Oarfish: Sandstein, CC BY 3.0, source
- Grenadiers: Unknown author, Public domain, source
- Danio: Soulkeeper, Public domain, source
- Rainbowfish: Eileen Kortright ( Roan Art ), CC BY 2.5, source
- Arowana: User:Qwertzy2, CC BY-SA 3.0, source