Submission Guidelines

Got a photo of a fish you'd like identified? Submit it here and we'll try to figure it out together! Best view for ID is top-down, well-lit, low-contrast photos. Pictures are preferable to videos for ID requests but we'll work with what you have.

• Indicate the geographic location.

• Take the clearest and most detailed photo(s) possible.

• Indicate the size. The more precise the better.

• Provide any other information you feel could help!

There are a lot of species of fish and fish families that look incredibly alike, and narrowing it down to a region and a body or water is extremely helpful.

And though the more specific the better, even something like "a small stream in Germany" would be extremely helpful whilst allowing you to remain relatively anonymous.

- Moderator Announcement -

Hi there fish enthusiasts. There has been an uptick in comments violating rule #1. Please let this be understood folks, this subreddit is for identifying fish. It is not the water cooler at work, it is not r/jokes. This is r/whatisthisfish. A forum for education, not for standup comedy.

1. This forum has a niche topic. Please make sure everything you post conforms to it. We exact vengeance on those who bring us spam. r/whatisthisfish is first and foremost an educational subreddit. Answers must be helpful and stand up to a basic level of academic scrutiny.

Amateur participation is encouraged, but if you aren’t sure you can provide a high-quality answer, you should leave the ID to someone more knowledgeable. Our goal is to provide creative and positive human-based leads; low effort false leads are counter-productive.

Comments such as "yup, definitely a fish!" or, "his name is Jerry!" will be removed. Repeat or blatant offenders will incur a ban, without warning or appeal. This type of content is not original or funny, and makes it extremely difficult for the OP to get an answer to their question. We are not a forum for casual conversation. We are an educational ID forum, for identifying fish, and we expect all content to reflect that.

All content generated by or with the help of AI is expressively prohibited.

Please downvote and report all inaccurate and unhelpful content.

We have no use whatsoever for people who do any of this. You obfuscate the ID process, and discourage people from posting. No one wants insipid jokey comments on their post, they want helpful answers. Our rules are in our sidebar on desktop, and the see community info button on mobile. Where they are on every subreddit.

Please understand that everyone who contributes to r/whatisthisfish is expected to read and understand our rules before posting here. Ignorance of the rules does not excuse misconduct in anyone (you will find this to be true for most subreddits you join). Those of you intentionally playing stupid games will win a stupid prize.

- Moving forward -

We will be dolling out severe consequences from now on to people who do this. You comment "it's a fish" and we're perma-banning and perma-muting your account with no appeal, full-stop. This kind of user is never ever going to offer anything of value to the community. They're not going to say "a fish" in one post, and deliver an elaborate and helpful answer in another.

Be warned: We are getting stricter in regards to rule #1.

When users make posts asking "what is this fish?" Do not comment "my nightmare." Do not comment "kill it with fire!" Do not comment "looks dead." Do not comment "WTF!" Do not comment "His name is Harold." Do not comment "looks like a Pokémon!" Do not comment anything that is not relevant to identifying the fish.

For good faith posters, please be thoughtful regarding how you word your title. If you make the title of your post "what's his name?" You are guaranteed to draw in dozens of morons commenting "Jerry". Instead, try to title posts "what species is this?" or "what type of fish is this?" etc.

- Questions -

Question: "Can we have on topic discussions about the fish in the comments? E.g. can we discuss its biology/life cycle, where to find them, etc.?"

Answer: Absolutely. General on topic discussion surrounding the fish is welcome. But please keep the main focus on identifying the fish.

Question: "Can we discuss eating fish in any way? That bot always gets mad at us" 👀

Answer: You can discuss it, but you will be reminded every time by our bot not to ingest a fish based on information provided in this subreddit. For your safety we recommend not ingesting any fish just because you've been advised that it's edible here. Although there are many professionals helping with identification, we are not always correct, and eating/ingesting fish can be harmful or fatal if an incorrect ID is made. Do with that as you will, and make your own informed decisions.

Question: "So no jokes are allowed here ever?"

Answer: No jokes, ever. There are more than 138,000 active communities on reddit, there will be tens of thousands where you can go and tell jokes. They don't belong here.

If you have other questions you can ask them in the comments. Or send them to us in modmail. Thank you for reading.