Fish | Smithsonian Ocean

Colorful fish swim in blue water.

an adult and baby coelacanth specimens on display

Meet the Coelacanth

Learn about the fish that was once thought to be extinct.

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Featured Content

A Honduran small-scale fisherman on a boat setting out to fish.

Article

Clever Measures Track Fishing Pressures

A blue parrotfish hides among coral.

Article

Tough Teeth and Parrotfish Poop

On coral reefs fish are important links in the food chain that sustains higher-order predators (including humans) and keeps everything in balance.

Article

Fish Get Risky Around Oil

A tornado of sardines swirls around diver and photographer Erwin Poliakoff in the Philippines.

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Why the Littlest Fish Matter a Whole Lot

A school of akule (Hawaiian for bigeye scad) explode into a camera's frame.

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Following the Akule

Are You An Educator?

At Smithsonian Ocean, we have lesson plans, activities, and resources to help you engage your students in the wonders of our oceans.

see all lesson plans see fish lesson plans

Fish Articles

This shrimp is colored to fit in - probably why they are common members of the seaweed community.

Slideshow

A World Adrift: Life in the Sargassum Slideshow

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Meet the Tiny Bacteria That Give Anglerfishes Their Spooky Glow

A screenshot from the video showing a school of swimming fish.

Video

Bite Size: Bull Shark Predation of Tarpon

a heart in a petri dish

Video

Dispatches from the Gulf: Centers of Innovation

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Gulper Eel's Massive Jaws

Slideshow

Revealing the Family Ties of Cusk-Eels

Seafood vendor at historic Pike Place Market in Seattle, Washington (USA). The market draws both shoppers and gawkers who come to watch the gregarious crew of fishmongers.

Slideshow

World Fisheries from Sea to Table

Map showing the range of the eastern and western populations of Atlantic bluefin tuna and their spawning grounds in the Gulf of Mexico and the Mediterranean Sea.

Article

Atlantic Bluefin Tuna (Thunnus thynnus)

Home is where the hull is: Since the dawn of seafaring, humankind has had to deal with pesky creatures, such as barnacles, that “foul” ship hulls and boat propellers like this one.

Article

No Fouling Around

Grey reef sharks are among the most versatile and tough predators on a Pacific coral reef, but they are also among the most vulnerable species, as they are threatened by wasteful fishing practices like shark finning.

Article

Where the Shark and the Snapper Roam

A blue parrotfish hides among coral.

Article

Tough Teeth and Parrotfish Poop

This is one of about 200 species of moray eels that live in tropical and subtropical coral reefs.

Article

The Revealing Nature of Eel Faces