Our Marine Life Encyclopedias contain more than 1000 species of coral reef fish and 140 species of sharks and rays. There are currently two, separate databases of information that you can search -- one for fishes and one for sharks. We have provided you with a search page for each of these databases. Please note, however, that you cannot search for fish using the Shark Encyclopedia search page and vice-versa. At the present time, there is no encyclopedia search for invertebrates but one is planned for the future.

Three ways to search

You can search for species by their common, scientific or family name. You can also use a partial name in your search to find a wider match of species. See examples below.

Can't think of the common or scientific name?

If you are unfamiliar with common or scientific names of fishes, sharks or rays, you can always browse through our complete list of species. In both the "Sharks and Rays" and the "Reef Fishes" sections of CoralRealm, you'll find a link to a pop-up window that lists all the species in each of our databases. Look for the links titled "all our fishes" and "all our sharks"

Remember that you must be logged in as a Coralrealm member (using your username and password) to get results when seaching the marine life encylopedias.

EXAMPLE SEARCHES

Let's look at some examples of how to search the two encyclopedias.

Common name searches:

To find a species of angelfish you could enter just angel as the common name. Search results would include:

• earspot angelfish
• emperor angelfish
• yellowband angelfish
• bluefaced angelfish

To find a fish with the word spotted in the name you could simply enter spotted in the common name search box. This would match species like:

• bluespotted puffer
• whitespotted puffer
• twospotted hawkfish
• finspotted fairy wrasse

To find a common name that includes the word "blue", you would search by entering blue in the common name box. This would result in matches like:

• bluespotted puffer
• blue hamlet
• bluetrimmed dottyback
• blue flasher wrasse
• bluehead tilefish
• bluestripe angelfish
• bluespeckled shrimgoby

Using broad searches like these also helps you find names that might be listed with or without spaces. For example, typing blue spotted puffer will not result in a match because the proper spelling of the common name is bluespotted puffer (without spaces).

Secientific name searches:

Searching with the partial scientific name genicanthus will result in 18 matches including these:

• Genicanthus watanabei (wantanabes angelfish)
• Genicanthus takeuchii (spotted angelfish)
• Genicanthus bellus (ornate angelfish)
• Genicanthus caudovittatus (zebra angelfish)

It is also possible to do a search with only a partial series of letters from a scientific name such as can. If you typed these characters in the family name box, the results would include:

• pomacanthidae
• priacanthidae
• malacanthidae

Likewise, typing canthus in the scientific name search box would yield results like:

• Pomacanthus zonipectus
• Holacanthus bermudensis
• Taenianotus triacanthus
• Ablabys macracanthus
• Heteropriacanthus cruentatus
• Pricanthus blochii

Special Requests

Remembering these techniques for searching our Marine Life Encyclopedias will allow you to find species easier. But don't be disappointed if you are unable to find a particular species. We are always adding new descriptions and photos. Your suggestions for additions are welcome and encouraged! Just use our Species Request Form. Your request will be sent directly to our "Minister of Marine Intelligence" for consideration.

We may have other information on the species you're researching. They may be featured in articles or other web documents. You can use our handy site search engine to find these feature articles.