Also known as the big spotted triggerfish.  Inhabits outer reef areas and feeds upon crustaceans and mollusks by crushing them with powerful teeth.  They are voracious eaters, and divers report seeing the clown triggerfish devour beds of pearl oysters.

Do not eat this fish.  According to an 1878 account, "the poisonous flesh acts primarily upon the nervous tissue of the stomach, occasioning violent spasms of that organ, and shortly afterwards all the muscles of the body.  The frame becomes rocked with spasms, the tongue thickened, the eye fixed, the breathing laborious, and the patient expires in a paroxysm of extreme suffering."

Not edible.

Range is Indo-Pacific and East Africa to Somoa.
Called seaperch in Australia.  Inhabits the areas around lagoon coral reefs and sandy bottoms.

The red emperor is a valuable food fish and considered a great sporting fish that fights with fury when hooked.  The flesh of an old fish is just as tender to eat as that of the very young.

Range is from the Indo-Pacific to East Africa.
This is the largest of all the wrasse.  It is found in dense reef areas, feeding on a wide variety of mollusks, fishes, sea urchins, crustaceans, and other invertebrates. In spite of its immense size, divers find it a very wary fish.

Edibility is considered poor.

Range is the Indo-Pacific and the Red Sea.
Habitat is around boulders, caves, coral ledges and crevices in shallow waters.  Swims alone or in groups.

Its color changes dramatically from juvenile to adult.  The mature adult fish can startle divers by producing a powerful drumming or thumping sound intended to warn off predators.

Edibility is good.

Range is the entire Indo-Pacific region.
Also known as the coronation trout.  It is found around coral reefs from shallow to very deep waters.  Feeds primarily on small fishes.

Although this rockcod is considered a good game and food fish, the large ones may contain a toxin and should not be eaten.  There is no way to discern whether the fish contains toxin.

Range is the Indo-Pacific and the Red Sea.
Also known as the turkeyfish.  Inhabits reef caves and crevices.  The firefish is usually stationary during the day, but feeds actively at night.  Favorite foods are crustaceans.

The dorsal spines of the firefish are needle-like and contain venom.  They can inflict an extremely painful wound.

Edibility is poor.

Range is from Western Australia to Malaysia.
Normally seen in pairs around dense coral areas from very shallow to moderate depths.  The butterflyfish feeds mainly on coral polyps and anemones.

Edibility is poor.

Range is Indo-Pacific from Sri Lanka to Polynesia.
Inhabits shallow reef caves and crevices and kelp beds along the coast and offshore islands.  This shark feeds at night on fishes and crustaceans and is totally harmless to divers.

For defense, the swell shark inflates its stomach with water to tightly lodge itself in a reef crevice.  

Edibility is poor.

Range is from Monterey Bay to Acapulco.  Also found in Chile.
Also know as the grinder ray because of its flat grinding teeth used to crush its meal of crustaceans or invertebrates.  Inhabits bays, sloughs, and kelp beds with sandy bottoms.

The bat ray digs up food with its wings and snout, and will even bite off overhanging ledges to get at prey.  It hunts singly or in groups.  When resting, it buries itself in sand with just the eyes protruding.

Edibility is poor.

Range is from Oregon to the Gulf of California.
This fish hides in a shallow-water lair with just its head protruding during the day.  At night it feeds on octopuses, crustaceans, and small fish close by.

If caught, it will bite anything nearby with its large fang-like teeth.  Divers can be bitten by a moray eel when sticking their hands into crevices or holes in search of lobster or abalone.

Edibility is good.

Range is from Southern California to Southern Baja.
Widely found from near the shore to very deep waters.  Young fish stay on sand or mud bottoms of bays and inshore areas.  The lingcod is a voracious predator, eating many different fishes and octopuses.

This fish changes color when stressed.  The flesh color also changes, from a greenish hue when caught to white when cooked.

Edibility is good; Lingcod is a popular sport and commercial fish.

Range is Alaska to Northern Baja California.
Often called the great marbled sculpin.  Found over rocky or shell-encrusted bottoms from shallow to moderately deep waters.  It feeds primarily on crustaceans and mollusks.

The male cabezon will not budge while guarding its nest and can even be touched by divers.

Edibility is good; the flesh is bluish-green but turns white when cooked.  The eggs of the cabezon are poisonous.

Range is from Alaska to Central Baja.
Found in mid-water areas around reefs, wrecks and bridges.  The tiny, all-black juveniles drift motionless in the shallows, looking like leaves and pods of mangrove.

Edibility is good.

Range is Bermuda, New England to Brazil, and the Gulf of Mexico.
Frequently found under rock or reef ledges.  Carnivorous with well-developed organs for scent and vibration detection.

Like all sharks, the nurse shark has a skeleton of cartilage rather than bone.  Instead of scales, its body is covered with tiny razor-sharp denticles.  The teeth are specialized forms of denticles.  Sharks must continually swim or will slowly sink because they have no air bladder.

Edibility is poor.

Range is from Rhode Island to Brazil, including the Gulf of Mexico.
Found in reef areas and sandy bottoms.  The spotted eagle ray has a poisonous spine on its tail and incredibly powerful jaws to crush oysters, clams, and numerous crustaceans.  Divers report large schools during breeding season.

This ray is an active swimmer and often leaps into the air.  The slapping sound it makes on the water is thought to mark a territory.

Edibility is poor.

Range is throughout the tropics.
Prefers to congregate in loose groups in the open water above reef areas.  Has well-developed teeth and usually feeds at night on small fishes, crustaceans, and plankton.

The yellowtail snapper repeatedly snaps its jaws after it has been caught.  Divers have been injured by these fish.

This is an excellent game fish with tenacious fighting ability and tasty flesh.

Range is Bermuda, New England to Brazil, and the Gulf of Mexico.
Inhabits reef areas.  The parrotfish's teeth are fused together, enabling them to scrape away hard coral outer skeletons to get at polyps inside.  These fish are thought to be a major factor in reef recycling.

Occasionally a female will change sex, increase in size, and take on a distinct appearance  as a terminal-phase male.  This is usually done to replace a missing male.

Edibility is poor. 

Range is Bermuda and Florida to Brazil.
Young barracuda live in inshore seagrass beds, while adults range from inshore channels to the open ocean.  The barracuda feeds on a wide variety of fishes.

It frequently drifts just below the surface and is known to approach divers at very close range.  The long underslung jaw with its very sharp teeth can be disconcerting.  Attacks on humans have reportedly been in cloudy water when the victim is wearing bright diving gear or attempting to spear the fish.

Edibility is good for small specimens, but  large barracuda can carry a fatal toxin.  There is no visible way to tell if the fish is harmful to eat.

Range is worldwide.
The French grunt drifts in large groups in sheltered reef areas during the day.  It forages nearby for other fish at night.

The fish produces a grunt-like sound by grinding teeth located in the throat.  The sound is amplified by the adjacent swim bladder.  During territorial skirmishes, male grunts will face and push each other with open mouths.

Edibility is excellent.

Range is Bermuda, South Carolina to Brazil, and the Gulf of Mexico.
This fish is named for its elongated canine teeth at the front of the upper jaw.  It is solitary and wary and stays in the deep reef or submerged wreck areas.  Not very common anywhere.

Edibility is good if the fish is small.  However, a large dog snapper may contain a fatal toxin.  These fish repeatedly snap their jaws shut after removal from a hook or net.

Range is New England to Brazil and the Gulf of Mexico.
Found around shallow coral reefs and seagrass beds, feeding mainly on fishes.

This is the most friendly of all groupers.  If offered food, it will return again and again, looking for more. 

As a defense, the Nassau grouper can change colors to blend perfectly into any background, from white to solid black.

Range is Bermuda, North Carolina to Brazil, and the Gulf of Mexico.
Found in coral reefs, rocky flats, reef sand, and seagrass habitats.  This is one of the most successful "cleaner fish" in the tropical West Atlantic.  It feeds on the parasites of other fish, who come to the wrasse to be cleaned.

Most bluehead wrasses are yellow.  The head of the terminal-phase male (about 4% of the population) is blue.

Edibility is poor.

Range is large, including both sides of the Atlantic, Bermuda, Bahamas, and Florida to Curacao, plus the Gulf of Mexico.
Inhabits reef and mid-water areas, feeding on invertebrates and small fishes.  The adult is one of the few jacks without teeth.

The young fish seek out larger predators, such as sharks, for protection.  Divers have reported young jacks wanting to join up with them!

Edibility is excellent.

Range is Indo-Pacific and Southern California to Panama.
Inhabits exposed sandy shorelines to shallow depths.  Feeds on sand-dwelling crustaceans and mollusks.

While almost all other marine fishes fertilize and scatter large numbers of eggs outside the body, the surfperch nourishes offspring inside the ovary and spawns them live and sexually active into the surf.

A favorite sport fish for surf anglers.  Edibility is very good.

Range is from Vancouver Island to Central California.
Schools are found over rocky bottoms and around kelp forest canopies.  Not a true bass, this is the largest of the croakers on the Pacific Coast.  It feeds in mid-water on squid, anchovies, and sardines.  

Croakers make a remarkable "boop-boop-boop" sound, and submarine commanders discovered they could hide the sound of their engines behind the racket.  

The large calcareous "earstones" in this fish's inner ear canals were considered good luck charms by early Europeans and were used by American Indians in jewelry.

Excellent edibility if you can find one.  White sea bass were heavily fished in the 1950s but are now rarely caught.

Range is from Alaska to Southern Baja.
Inhabits rocky areas along shallow exposed coast line.

Greenlings can change their color to blend with the surrounding sunlit rock and seaweed.  Their scales are very rough and give the body a sandpaper-like texture.

An 1886 description of a greenling comes from naturalist J.K. Lord.  He was overcome by its beauty, and said "its sides...rival in beauty many a tropical flower...[and are] adorned with colors not only conspicuous for their brilliancy, but grouped and blended in a manner one sees only represented in the plumage of a bird, the wing of a butterfly, or the petals of an orchid...red, blue, orange, and green are so mingled that the only thing I can think of as a comparison is a floating flower bed, and even the gardener's art, in grouping, is but a bungle contrasted with nature's painting."

Edibility is good.

Range is from the Bering Sea to Southern California.
Found almost everywhere by divers, this fish lives either in schools or alone.  It is a voracious eater that feeds constantly.  It is also a very successful "cleaner fish", and a single Senorita may be surrounded by dozens of fishes waiting to be cleaned of parasites.  Divers report them teaming up to clean a large sea bass or Mola.

This fish does not reverse sex as most wrasses do.  When disturbed, it burrows in the bottom sediment.  It also sleeps there with its head protruding from the sand.

Edibility is poor.

Range is Northern California to Central Baja.
Also called the day smelt because of the timing of its spawning runs.  Inhabits the surf line, feeding on small fishes and invertebrates.  

Surf smelt ride a wave onto the beach, lay and fertilize their eggs, and catch a return wave to the sea.  The fry hatch approximately two weeks later during high tide. 

This fish is a favorite among surf anglers.  Edibility is good.

Range is from Alaska to Southern California.