774 articles
Barreleye
Barreleye (Macropinna microstoma), also called spookfish, a small deep-sea fish of the northeastern Pacific at 600–800 m with tubular green eyes inside a transparent head dome; eyes rotate forward to feed, confirmed by MBARI in 2009.
Basa (fish)
Basa (Pangasius bocourti) is a Mekong-basin shark catfish farmed in Vietnam and sold as a mild white fish; often confused with swai (P. hypophthalmus), which US law bars from the catfish label.
Basking shark
Basking shark (Cetorhinus maximus), second largest living fish after the whale shark; one of three plankton-feeding sharks. Ram filter-feeds on copepods at the surface, migrates across hemispheres, IUCN Vulnerable, CITES Appendix II.
Bass (fish)
Bass is a common name for unrelated fish: black basses (Micropterus, sunfish family Centrarchidae), temperate basses (Moronidae, including striped and European sea bass), and sea basses (Serranidae). The word has no taxonomic meaning; a 2022 study split largemouth and Florida bass into separate species.
Belone belone
Belone belone, the garfish or garpike, a slender needlefish (Belonidae) of the eastern Atlantic, Mediterranean, and Black Sea, with beak-like jaws, green biliverdin bones, 75-84 vertebrae, up to 104 cm, IUCN Least Concern.
Beluga (sturgeon)
Beluga (Huso huso), the largest sturgeon of the Caspian, Black, and Azov seas and source of beluga caviar; Critically Endangered, CITES Appendix II, generation length about 61 years.
Beluga caviar
Beluga caviar is salt-cured roe of the beluga sturgeon (Huso huso, Persian fil-mahi), the largest Caspian sturgeon; the priciest caviar variety, now critically endangered, farm-only, and banned from US import.
Betta
Betta, genus of Southeast Asian labyrinth fishes; best-known species Betta splendens, the Siamese fighting fish, a national aquatic animal of Thailand, air-breathing bubble nester, domesticated ~700 generations ago, wild populations IUCN Vulnerable.
Birgeria
Birgeria, sole genus of Birgeriidae, is an extinct large predatory ray-finned fish spanning most of the Triassic (252–201 Ma), with up to 11 species, cutting-edged teeth, and body lengths up to about 1.85 m.
Black carp (青鱼)
Black carp (青鱼, Mylopharyngodon piceus), a large molluscivorous Chinese cyprinid of the four famous domestic fishes, farmed since the Tang dynasty, introduced to the U.S. in 1973 and now reproducing invasively in the Mississippi River basin.
Black marlin
Black marlin (Istiompax indica, formerly Makaira indica), a large Indo-Pacific billfish reaching over 4.48 m and 700 kg, identified by rigid pectoral fins that cannot fold flat; a major gamefish and tuna-fishery bycatch species, IUCN Data Deficient.
Blacktip reef shark
Blacktip reef shark (Carcharhinus melanopterus), also blackfin reef shark, a shallow-water Indo-Pacific requiem shark with black-tipped fins, to 1.8 m, live-bearing with 2-4 pups; distinct from the Atlantic blacktip shark C. limbatus.
Blacktip shark
Blacktip shark (Carcharhinus limbatus), a warm-temperate to tropical requiem shark with black-tipped fins and a white anal fin, distinct from the blacktip reef shark; Near Threatened globally, rebuilt in the US Atlantic in 2003.
Blenniidae
Blenniidae, combtooth blennies, a family of about 387 marine fish species in 57 genera with comb-like teeth, found worldwide in tropical and warm temperate coastal waters, including intertidal and some freshwater forms.
Blenniiformes
Blenniiformes is an order of ray-finned fishes (blennies and allies) in Ovalentaria, traditionally six families including Blenniidae; IndoPacific origin about 60 Ma, with repeated amphibious water-to-land transitions.
Blicca bjoerkna
Blicca bjoerkna, the white bream or silver bream, is a small deep-bodied cyprinid fish native to Europe and Asia that closely resembles and hybridizes with the common bream.
Blood parrot cichlid
Blood parrot cichlid (血鹦鹉), a man-made hybrid cichlid created in Taiwan around 1986, most often from Midas cichlid × redhead cichlid; beaked mouth deformity, males mostly infertile, 8 inches, 10-15 years.
Blue shark
The blue shark (Prionace glauca) is a large, slender pelagic shark of open temperate and tropical oceans worldwide, recognized by vivid blue coloration and long pectoral fins.
Bluefish
Bluefish (Pomatomus saltatrix) is a schooling marine predator found in temperate and tropical coastal waters worldwide, known for sharp teeth, voracious feeding, and importance to commercial and recreational fisheries.
Bluegill
Bluegill (Lepomis macrochirus), a North American freshwater sunfish (Centrarchidae) popular as a panfish; native from Quebec to northern Mexico, widely introduced worldwide, including Japan and Korea from 15 fish in 1960; max 41 cm, 2.2 kg.
Bluntnose sixgill shark
Bluntnose sixgill shark (Hexanchus griseus), a large deepwater cow shark with six gill slits and one dorsal fin, up to 4.8 m, IUCN Near Threatened, Salish Sea pupping grounds.
Boops boops
Boops boops, the bogue, is a large-eyed sea bream (Sparidae) from the Eastern Atlantic, Mediterranean, and Black Sea, intensively fished there; FAO code BOG, IUCN Least Concern, with Mediterranean stocks assessed as overexploited.
Boreogadus saida
Boreogadus saida, the Arctic cod or polar cod (Russian сайка), is a small gadid fish, the sole species of Boreogadus, circumpolar in ice-covered Arctic seas, the Arctic Ocean's most abundant forage fish and a keystone prey for seals, seabirds, and cod.
Bothidae
Bothidae, the lefteye flounders, is a family of 170 flatfish species in 20 genera with both eyes on the left side; benthic sand- and mud-dwelling marine predators, now being reclassified genetically.
Bothriolepis
Bothriolepis, an extinct genus of antiarch placoderm fish of the Devonian, named by Eichwald in 1840, with about 77 valid species, 50 cm length, cosmopolitan range, and a disputed lungs claim.
Bowfin
Bowfin (Amia calva), with eyetail bowfin Amia ocellicauda, the last living amiiform fish, a North American freshwater air-breather in Holostei with gars; long called a living fossil, split into two species in 2022.
Brevoortia tyrannus
Brevoortia tyrannus, Atlantic menhaden (bunker, pogie), a schooling clupeid filter feeder from Nova Scotia to Florida supporting the largest US Atlantic coast fishery by volume; managed by ASMFC with ecological reference points, not overfished as of 2025, 2026 TAC 186,840 mt.
Brook trout
Brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis), also called brookie, coaster, or salter, is a char native to eastern North America, a popular sportfish introduced on every continent except Antarctica, with growth limited above 16 degrees C and stress onset near 21 degrees C.
Brosme brosme
Brosme brosme, the cusk or tusk (Norwegian brosme), is the sole species of the genus Brosme, a rocky-bottom gadid of the North Atlantic; slow-growing, late-maturing, fished commercially, a NOAA species of concern, COSEWIC Endangered, IUCN Not Evaluated.
Brown trout
Brown trout (Salmo trutta) is a European salmonid fish with sea-migrating (sea trout) and freshwater forms, 140 cm max length, IUCN Least Concern, and one of the world's worst invasive alien species where introduced.