The catalog

Every predator profile

33 ocean hunters, from reef ambushers to deep-sea giants. Filter by group, ocean, habitat, prey or conservation status, then open any profile for the full account.

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Predatory Fish Atlantic bluefin tuna in open blue water, a heavy steel-blue torpedo with silvery flanks, short yellow finlets and a stiff crescent-shaped tail.

Atlantic Bluefin Tuna

Thunnus thynnus

A warm-bodied ocean sprinter that crosses the Atlantic between cold northern feeding grounds and two widely separated spawning areas.

Length 3.3–15 ft Least Concern
Predatory Fish Atlantic goliath grouper resting beside a reef ledge, a broad mottled brown fish with a very large mouth, small high-set eyes and rounded fins.

Atlantic Goliath Grouper

Epinephelus itajara

A slow-growing reef giant that feeds by suction, booms with its swim bladder, and gathers at the same wrecks to spawn each fall.

Length 3.3–8.2 ft Vulnerable
Predatory Fish Great barracuda hovering in clear blue water, a long silver fish with a pointed head, jutting lower jaw, dark flank blotches and a deeply forked tail.

Great Barracuda

Sphyraena barracuda

A silver reef ambusher that hangs almost motionless above the bottom, then closes on prey in a single short burst of speed.

Length 2–6.6 ft Least Concern
Predatory Fish Red lionfish above coral, showing red-brown and white banded body, long venomous dorsal spines and wide fan-shaped striped pectoral fins.

Red Lionfish

Pterois volitans

A venomous Indo-Pacific ambush hunter, now established across the western Atlantic, that stalks small reef fish behind a fan of striped fins.

Length 5.9–19 in Least Concern
Predatory Fish Sailfish in sunlit blue water with its tall blue-black dorsal sail raised, showing a long slender bill, silver flanks and faint vertical bars.

Sailfish

Istiophorus platypterus

A slender billfish with an enormous folding dorsal sail that hunts sardine schools in groups, tapping and slashing prey with its bill.

Length 4.9–11 ft Least Concern
Predatory Fish Swordfish in dark open water, showing its long flattened bill, large round eye, tall stiff dorsal fin and dark bronze-brown back fading to a pale belly.

Swordfish

Xiphias gladius

A deep-diving billfish that warms its brain and eyes, hunts squid in near-freezing darkness, and slashes rather than spears its prey.

Length 3.9–15 ft Least Concern