Name of fish
Description
1
black molly
Entirely black, ovoviviparous, tropical brackish water fish often found in pet stores
2
right-eyed flounder
Flatfish found in the salt marsh
3
white sturgeon
Gigantic anadromous fish with barbels under its long snout and a heterocercal tail
4
archerfish
Tropical brackish water fish with precision spitting ability
5
Sockeye salmon
6
mosquito fish
7
smallmouth bass
A green face, white mandible, and red body will distinguish this anadromous salmonid
from the rest
Little white ovoviviparous fish that demonstrate sexual dimorphism and are known for
eating Culex larvae
In Chesapeake Bay, males of these poor fish were exhibiting intersex
8
tidepool sculpin
Euryhaline critter with large pectoral fins nicely camouflaged in the tidepools
9
bumblebee goby
A cute tiny brackish water fish named after an insect
10
chum salmon
Salmonid with a characteristic “fire belly” color pattern
11
Atlantic menhaden
Comes to the salt marsh to lay eggs in the brackish water, but spends most its life in the
Atlantic Ocean
12
yellowfin tuna
Large, fast swimming oceanic fish used to represent the stenohalic tendency
13
Devil’s Hole pupfish
14
American eel
15
Chinook salmon
Rare little fish that could be called an extremophile because it can tolerate super saline
water in excess of 100 degrees
Elongated serpentine fish on the Atlantic coast that demonstrates the catadromous
lifestyle
Largest of the salmonids, recognized by its black gums
16
American shad
Generic looking fish with no visible lateral line and only a single dorsal fin. It is
anadromous and exhibits sexual dimorphism.
17
pink salmon
Salmonid with the most extreme hump
18
three-spine stickleback
19
striped bass
20
brook trout
21
Coho salmon
Living in temperate brackish water, this little fish is recognized by an unusually
dangerous looking anterior dorsal fin
This highly edible fish lives in the salt marsh and is recognized by horizontal stripes
along its body
A typical fresh water fish, often snapping at mayfly lures, and demonstrating a
stenohaline lifestyle
The most athletic of the Pacific salmonids, leaping up waterfalls and trying to avoid
bears
22
Columbia River smelt
Smallest of the anadromous fish on the Pacific coast, these fish swim up the Columbia
River in droves
23
steelhead/rainbow trout
A fish with two possible identities, depending on whether it migrates to the ocean or
stays in fresh water
24
capelin
Slender fish that throws itself onshore to spawn during high tide
25
manta ray
Huge pectoral fins that look like wings help this cartilaginous fish glide through the air.
26
cleaner wrasse
Using pectoral fins to propel itself, this colorful denizen of the coral reef plucks
parasites from thankful larger fish
27
Amphioxus/ lancelet
Not even quite a fish, this sword-shaped critter burrows in the sand and filter feeds. It’s
a chordate, but not a vertebrate
28
black seadevil
29
barbel
30
hagfish/slime eel
31
ratfish/ chimera
32
Plecostomus
Related to sharks, but named after a Greek mythical creature because of their mixed
characteristics
A genus of armored catfish, often found in pet stores sucking on glass
33
weedy sea dragon
This unusual seahorse blends into the seaweed quite well
34
spiny dogfish
A fairly generic shark, named after the spine on the anterior end of its dorsal fin
35
flying fish
Amazing fish that can glide with oversized pectoral and pelvic fins
36
common skate
37
pipefish
Looks somewhat like a stingray, but has a thicker tail with numerous spines, and two
dorsal fins on the tip of its tail
Looks like a straightened out seahorse, with armor plates and a fused jaw
38
mudskipper
39
betta/Siamese fighting fish
40
candirú
Tiny catfish of the Amazon (a.k.a. pencilfish or vampire fish) with the reputation of
entering the urethra of human bathers
41
basking shark
Second largest shark in the world, also a filter feeder using its gill rakers
42
Antarctic ice fish
This fish can tolerate freezing polar waters because of a special protein in its blood
43
clown knifefish
Can move forward and backward using undulating waves of its long anal fin
44
lamprey
Agnathan with seven gill openings, and a nasty habit of attaching itself onto other fish
to parasitize them
45
clownfish
These pretty little fish all start off life as males, but when the dominant female dies, the
largest male has a sex change
46
lungfish
Strange fish found in the deserts of Africa, has lobe fins, cosmoid scales, and can
breathe air
47
gar
One of the few living fish with ganoid scales. It can be big and scary, looking like an
alligator
48
clingfish
Like a goby, these little tidepool fish adhere to rocks with specialized fused pelvic fins
49
coelacanth
Ancient fish with cosmoid scales and lobefins, in the same subclass as all tetrapods
50
mola mola/ocean sunfish
Heaviest of the bony fish, massive, weirdly shaped, slow moving, likes to bask on its
side right at the surface
Looks like a head with fins, this slow moving monstrous fish lures its prey with a
bioluminescent dorsal spine
A member of the carp family that, in some locations, depends on hippos for their
sustenance
No eyes, no jaws, keratin plates for teeth, no paired fins, and lots of slime
Weird fish that can breathe air, make burrows on the mudflats, and jump to attract
mates
Freshwater fish of tropical Asia that has bright iridescent scales and wide showy fins
that males use to intimidate each other