A Paddle Boarder's Guide To Saltwater Fish Identification

This first group of fish is connected only by appearances, not genetics or ancestry. Angelfish, butterflyfish, and surgeonfish are all brightly colored, with small mouths and round, flat bodies shaped like coins. All three include species popular in aquariums for their bright colors, unique patterns, and beautiful fins. The most distinctive angelfish is probably the emperor angelfish, which is a good example of the family’s distinctively towering, pointed dorsal fins.

Iconic surgeonfish include the blue and yellow tangs (Dory and Bubbles from Finding Nemo, respectively), who demonstrate the group’s long, thin dorsal and anal fins and sharp, spiny scales. The smallest of the three are the butterflyfish, who never reach more than a foot in length and are distinguished by their narrow snouts and rounded tails. According to Everything Fishkeeping, all three groups are common on coral reefs and often found in busy, brightly colored schools.

Eels are not sea snakes, which are an entirely separate and fairly rare collection of ocean-dwelling reptiles, but they are arguably the snakes of the fish world. They have long, thin bodies that lack most fins, except for a long, ribbonlike anal fin below their body and a similar fusion of a dorsal and caudal fin on top. They move by undulating their entire bodies, along with these fins, and by this method can swim either forwards or backwards.

True eels can range in length from a few inches to more than 10 feet – although that massive species, the slender-bodied giant moray, prefers muddy river beds to the open ocean.

Left: School of jackfish. Right: Chub. Images via Shutterstock.

This group is something of a catch-all, comprised of four species of reef-dwelling fish that are actually not at all related. However, these large, silver predators all look similar and can be easily confused for each other, so we’ve grouped them together. You may not be able to identify exactly which one of these four you’ve seen, but you’ll know it’s one of them by their long, silver bodies and forked tails. Barracuda are easily distinguished by their thin bodies and thinner snouts full of intimidatingly sharp teeth. 

Jacks are perhaps the one you are most likely to see, as they like to hang out in schools near sharp drop-offs at the edge of the reef; you can recognize them by their rounded foreheads, flat faces, and prominent lateral lines.

Porgies and chubs have similarly shaped oblong bodies, but paddle boarders are much more likely to see chubs, as they favor the surface of the water, while porgies prefer to stalk the seabed. 

Rays look like what happens if you cross a fish with a pancake, and then also maybe a bird. They are easily identified by their flat, circular bodies, and the way they move through the water by flapping their large, fused pectoral fins like wings. The largest species, the giant oceanic manta ray, can reach 18 feet across, but more common rays tend to be a few feet across, or smaller.

Because there are over 600 species of ray, there are many, many different variations to spot, but they can be hard to see from a paddle board, as they tend to prefer the sea floor to the surface of the water – though some species, like devil rays, can occasionally be seen breaching the water in remarkable jumps of several feet.