Fish Facts

All fish are vertebrates meaning they have backbones.

There are roughly 20,000 different types of fish.

All fish are cold blooded, which means their body temperature is tied to the water around them.

The Bristlemouth is the most abundant fish with billions of them in the ocean. They are roughly 3 inches long.

Fish sleep with their eyes open.

Some fish, such as the Yelloweye Rockfish can live to be over 100 years old.

The smallest fish is the “Goby”, which is around a quarter inch long when fully grown.

The biggest fish is the whale shark, which can be 60 feet long and weigh over 40,000 pounds.

A Plaice, a type of flounder fish, can reproduce complex patterns around it for camouflage purposes.

A single piranha can’t eat a man, but it can take off a toe.


A lungfish can enter a state of suspended animation for three years. You could put it in the garage for 2 years, and it would survive!

A particular fish in Florida, the Gurnard, makes grunting noises before thunderstorms and is absolutely accurate. Nobody understands the process.

Most fish eat other fish.

A number of fish species are born in fresh water, spend their adult life in the ocean and then return to the fresh water to breed. An example is Salmon.

All fish secrete fluids onto their skins that make it easier to move through water.

Fish breathe by drinking water and forcing it out their gills. The gills pull the oxygen out of the water as it is forced by.

Whales are mammals, not fish.