Marine & reef

12 Colourful Saltwater Reef Fish

The bright marine fish of coral reefs, with pictures

Clownfish

Marine · 8-11 cm · Semi-aggressive

Orange-and-white reef fish that shelters unharmed among the stinging tentacles of sea anemones.

Photo: Nick Hobgood · CC BY-SA 3.0

Blue Tang

Marine · 25-30 cm · Semi-aggressive

Bright blue reef surgeonfish with a scalpel-like spine near its yellow tail.

Photo: Holger Krisp · CC BY 3.0

Yellow Tang

Marine · up to 20 cm · Semi-aggressive

A bright yellow surgeonfish of the Pacific reefs, common in Hawaiian waters.

Photo: Luc Viatour · CC BY-SA 3.0

Mandarinfish

Marine · 6-8 cm · Peaceful

Small, vividly patterned reef dragonet from the Pacific; famously hard to feed.

Photo: Luc Viatour · CC BY-SA 3.0

Royal Gramma

Marine · up to 8 cm · Peaceful

A small Caribbean reef fish that is purple at the front and yellow at the rear.

Photo: H. Zell · CC BY-SA 3.0

Flame Angelfish

Marine · up to 10 cm · Semi-aggressive

A bright red-orange dwarf angelfish with dark vertical bars, from central Pacific reefs.

Photo: Andreas März from Darmstadt, Germany · CC BY 2.0

Coral Beauty

Marine · up to 10 cm · Semi-aggressive

A small dwarf angelfish with a deep blue body flushed with orange, from Indo-Pacific reefs.

Photo: Rickard Zerpe · CC BY 2.0

Regal Angelfish

A boldly striped Indo-Pacific reef angelfish with orange, white, and blue bands.

Photo: Diego Delso · CC BY-SA 4.0

Emperor Angelfish

A large reef angelfish; adults have horizontal blue-and-yellow stripes across the body.

Photo: Diego Delso · CC BY-SA 4.0

Green Chromis

Marine · up to 8 cm · Community

A small blue-green schooling damselfish of Indo-Pacific reefs.

Photo: Philippe Bourjon · CC BY-SA 4.0

Firefish Goby

Marine · up to 9 cm · Peaceful

A dartfish with a white-to-red gradient body and a tall first dorsal fin, from Indo-Pacific reefs.

Photo: Sean McGrath from Saint John, NB, Canada · CC BY 2.0

Copperband Butterflyfish

Marine · up to 20 cm · Peaceful

A white reef butterflyfish crossed by copper-orange bands and a false eyespot near the tail.

Photo: BS Turner Hof · Public domain

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