774 articles
Cyprinodontiformes
Cyprinodontiformes (killifishes, topminnows, livebearers; Berg, 1940) is an order of about 1,250-1,350 ray-finned fishes in Atherinomorphae, with 14 families, repeated origins of viviparity and annualism, and guppies, mollies, and mosquitofish among its members.
Dasyatidae
Dasyatidae, whiptail stingrays, is a family of Myliobatiformes rays with a rounded disc, whip-like tail, and venomous sting. Revised in 2016 into four subfamilies and 18 genera; primarily marine, circumglobal.
Dasyatis pastinaca
Dasyatis pastinaca, the common stingray or blue stingray, is a whiptail stingray of the eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean, benthic to 200 m, ovoviviparous, venomous-spined, and IUCN Vulnerable.
Death of Steve Irwin
The death of Steve Irwin occurred on 4 September 2006, when a stingray barb pierced the "Crocodile Hunter's" heart while he snorkeled at Batt Reef, Queensland.
Demersal fish
Demersal fish, also known as groundfish, are fish that live and feed on or near the seabed, unlike pelagic fish; familiar examples include cods, groupers, flatfishes, and rockfishes.
Dentex dentex
Dentex dentex, the common dentex (denté commun, dentón), is a large Mediterranean and eastern Atlantic seabream (Sparidae) with prominent canines, IUCN Vulnerable from overfishing, and a trial-scale aquaculture species.
Devils Hole pupfish
Devils Hole pupfish (Cyprinodon diabolis), the world's rarest fish, lives only on a 215-square-foot shelf in one Nevada geothermal cavern; endangered since 1967, protected by Cappaert v. United States (1976), counts fell to 35 in 2013 and about 20 in 2025 before captive-bred releases.
Dicentrarchus punctatus
Dicentrarchus punctatus, the spotted seabass (bar tacheté, Baila), a Moronidae temperate bass of the eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean, distinguished from D. labrax by dark body spots and an opercular black spot.
Diplodus annularis
Diplodus annularis, the annular seabream (basionym Sparus annularis), is a small Mediterranean and eastern Atlantic sparid fish of seagrass and sandy bottoms, usually 12-15 cm, reaching 17 years, targeted mainly by recreational anglers.
Diplodus puntazzo
Diplodus puntazzo, sharpsnout seabream (sarago pizzuto), a sparid fish of the Mediterranean and eastern Atlantic; rudimentary hermaphrodite, omnivorous, to 60 cm, under domestication for Mediterranean aquaculture.
Diplodus sargus
Diplodus sargus, the white seabream (Sargo, Sar commun), is a Mediterranean and eastern Atlantic sparid fish with five dark vertical bars, reaching 45 cm, protandrous, fished artisanally, IUCN Least Concern.
Diplodus vulgaris
Diplodus vulgaris, the common two-banded seabream (sar à tête noire), is a Sparidae fish of the eastern Atlantic, Mediterranean, and Black Sea, with two dark bands, max 45 cm, IUCN Least Concern.
Dipterus
Dipterus, Sedgwick and Murchison 1828, an extinct Devonian lungfish genus (Dipteridae, Dipnoi); type species D. valenciennesi from the Middle Devonian Orcadian Basin, Scotland, common at Achanarras Quarry.
Dipturus
Dipturus, longnosed skates, is a genus of Rajidae skates established by Rafinesque 1810 with type species Raja batis; about 41 species in Pacific, Atlantic, and Indian Oceans, including the critically endangered common skate.
Discus (fish)
Discus (Symphysodon) are disc-shaped Amazonian cichlid aquarium fish, the "King of Aquarium Fishes," known for biparental mucus feeding of fry, about 100 color strains, $60–80 retail prices, and IUCN Least Concern status despite heavy ornamental trade.
Dissostichus mawsoni
Dissostichus mawsoni, Antarctic toothfish (also Antarctic cod, Mawson's toothfish), a large nototheniid fish of the Southern Ocean reaching 2 m and 135 kg, managed by CCAMLR in Ross Sea longline fisheries with a 3,278 t catch limit.
Dnieper - South Bug
Dnieper - South Bug, Freshwater Ecoregion 425 (FEOW), a fish-biogeographic region covering the Dnieper and Southern Bug drainages in Ukraine, Belarus, and Russia; temperate floodplain rivers, six Dnieper reservoirs, no strict endemic fishes, Kakhovka dam destroyed 2023.
Dorosoma cepedianum
Dorosoma cepedianum, the American gizzard shad (also gizzard shad, skipjack, hickory shad), is a North American clupeid fish of the family Dorosomatidae, a filter-feeding planktivore with over 400 gill rakers, ~300,000 eggs per female, and IUCN Least Concern status.
Dorosoma petenense
Dorosoma petenense, threadfin shad (sardina maya), a small schooling clupeiform fish native to Gulf of Mexico drainages from Florida to Guatemala, widely stocked as forage; cold-sensitive, filter-feeding planktivore.
Dried and salted cod
Dried and salted cod (bacalhau, baccalà, klippfisk) is cod cured with salt and dried for preservation without refrigeration; distinct from unsalted stockfish, it is soaked 24-48 hours before dishes like bacalhau à brás and brandade.
Dunkleosteus
Dunkleosteus is an extinct genus of large armored fish (placoderm) that lived 415–360 million years ago, with the species Dunkleosteus terrelli a top predator of Late Devonian seas.
East Chukotka
East Chukotka, FEOW freshwater ecoregion 611, covers Chukotka Peninsula drainages north of the Anadyr plus Wrangel Island, Russia; permafrost-fed rivers, Beringian mixed fish fauna, and three endemic fishes.
Eel
Eel: true eels are the order Anguilliformes, elongate pelvic-fin-less fishes with about 820 species; catadromous Anguilla species spawn in the Sargasso Sea, and the European eel is Critically Endangered.
Egg case (Chondrichthyes)
Egg case (Chondrichthyes), also called mermaid's purse: the keratin capsule laid by oviparous sharks, skates, and chimaeras, usually holding one yolk-nourished embryo; skate cases with horns form dense nurseries where embryos may develop up to five years.
Elasmobranchii
Elasmobranchii, the elasmobranchs or strap-gills, is the cartilaginous fish subclass of sharks, rays, skates, and sawfish, excluding chimaeras; cartilage skeletons, unfused upper jaws, exposed gill slits, and about 37% of species threatened.
Electric eel
Electric eel (Electrophorus), a South American freshwater knifefish, not a true eel; three species since 2019. E. voltai generates up to 860 volts, the strongest animal discharge, using three electric organs covering 80% of its body.
Electric fish
Electric fish: fishes that generate external electric fields via electrocyte-based electric organs, evolved independently about six times. Weakly electric knifefish and elephantfish electrolocate and communicate; electric eels (Electrophorus, up to 860 V) stun prey.
Electric ray
Electric rays (Torpediniformes), about 60 species of batoid fishes, produce electric organ discharges up to 220 V to stun prey and repel sharks; fossils known only from Cenozoic deposits, notably Bolca.
Eleutheronema tetradactylum
Eleutheronema tetradactylum, the fourfinger threadfin or Indian salmon, is an Indo-West Pacific polynemid fish with four pectoral filaments, protandrous hermaphroditism, high commercial value in fisheries and aquaculture, and a 2025 near-telomere-to-telomere genome assembly.
Engraulidae
Engraulidae (anchovies; anchois, anchoas) is the anchovy family of ray-finned fishes in order Clupeiformes, suborder Clupeoidei, with two subfamilies, Coilinae and Engraulinae, 17 genera, and 141 species, mostly marine plankton feeders.