Fish that Start with W

Well, the letter W brings us a lot of ‘white’ named fish or fish with white parts of their body or patterns, there are also a few interesting names which we hadn’t heard of before, like the Wobbegong, Wahoo and Wallago. So this list is sure to bring you some interesting fish that start with W that you can look into and discover more about.

Every fish that we have mentioned here has a scientific name as well as a common name – we’ve popped this in brackets next to each fish type. The scientific name of any creature is made up of a genus and species, where the genus is sort of like a surname and always has a capitalized first letter and the species is like a first name but is all lowercase. Imagine Joe Bloggs would be Bloggs joe if it were laid out like a scientific name.

So let’s get on into our lists!

Our Top 3 Fish Names Beginning with Letter W

As there aren’t as many fish that start with W, we’ve picked 3 favorites instead of 5, but even though there are less, they make up for it in sheer coolness. We hope you enjoy reading more about our chosen goby, tetra and cichlid.

White Cheek Goby (Rhinogobius wui)

This cheeky chappy is also sometimes known as the Hong Kong Goby, Red Throated Goby or Rhinogoby and hails from Asia. They rarely exceed 2 inches in size, so make great fish for personal aquaria. White Cheek Gobies are also pretty easygoing when it comes to temperature and could work for an indoor coldwater aquarium or a cooler, subtropical temperature setup.

These gobies can be kept quite peacefully with Danios, Loaches or Microdevarios, depending on the temperature of the water. It is best not to place the White Cheek Goby with tropical fish as they may not appreciate the goby’s lower-end temperature preferences.

White Skirt Tetra (Gymnocorymbus ternetzi)

Also known as White Tetra, Gold Skirt Tetra and Gold Widow Tetra, this fish definitely needs its scientific name to make things easier. White Skirt Tetra are a brilliant beginner fish as they are pretty easy to keep and don’t require enormous tanks, reaching just over 2 inches when fully grown.

Tetras tend to prefer being housed with at least 5-6 others of their kind as they like to school together and keep eachother company. This fast-moving, fin-nipping fish would be best kept with larger fish who are also quite fast. As well as plenty of room to swim, they like densely vegetated areas for a bit of privacy when they feel like it.

White-Spotted Cichlid (Tropheus duboisi)

Tropheus duboisi are endemic to Lake Tanganyika where they tend to live in rocky areas deep down. To keep your White-Spotted Cichlid feeling at home, create sturdy cave like structures with rocks and use a sandy substrate to mimic the lake floor. You can have planted areas in your tank, but bear in mind, Tropheus are known for rearranging their surroundings, so many aquarists like to keep cichlid tanks fairly bare.

White-Spotted Cichlids will eat most foods – spirulina flakes, nori and blanched spinach are ideal, but mix in a few bits of live or frozen food now and then for a good balanced diet. Don’t keep these cichlids with shy or nervous fish as they could end up being bullied, but most other cichlids of a similar size and with a similar diet would make a good match.

List of fish names starting with W

Below are freshwater and saltwater fish that start with W, some of which you may have heard of and others that are a little more obscure. As a whole list, these fish sound like a motley crew of pirates with Warmouth, Warty Angler and White Croaker making a swashbuckling appearance in our run down of ‘W’ fish names.

Also, keep your eyes peeled for a few wolves!

Freshwater fish beginning with W:

• Walking Catfish (Clarias batrachus)
• Wallago (Wallago attu)
• Walleye (Sander vitreus)
• Warmouth (Lepomis gulosus)
• Weather Loach (Misgurnus anguillicaudatus)
• Weatherfish (Misgurnus fossilis)
• Werner’s panchax (Aplocheilus dayi werneri)
• West African bichir (Polypterus retropinnis)
• West Australian pygmy perch (Edelia vittata)
• Western mosquitofish (Gambusia affinis)
• Whale Catfish (Helogenes marmoratus)
• Whiptailed Banjo Catfish (Platystacus cotylephorus)
• White Knifefish (Orthosternarchus tamandua)
• White Marlin (Kajikia albida)
• White Piranha (Serrasalmus rhombeus)
• White Spot Tetra (Aphyocharax paraguayensis)
• White-Finned Synodontis (Synodontis caudovittatus)
• White-Spotted Tropheus (Tropheus duboisi)
• Wimple (Myxocyprinus asiaticus)
• Wimple Piranha (Catoprion mento)
• Wolf Fish (Hoplias malabaricus)
• Wolf Tetra (Hydrocynus goliath)
• Wolff’s glassfish (Parambassis wolffii)
• Wolffish (Anarhichas denticulatus)
• Worm Eel (Myrichthys ocellatus)

Saltwater fish beginning with W:

• Wahoo (Acanthocybium solandri)
• Walleye Pollock (Gadus chalcogrammus)
• Walu (Lepidocybium flavobrunneum)
• Warty Angler (Brachionichthys hirsutus)
• Waryfish (Scopelosaurus ahlstromi)
• Waspfish (Snyderina yamanokami)
• Weasel Shark (Hemipristis elongatus)
• Weever (Echiichthys vipera)
• Wels Catfish (Silurus glanis)
• Whale Shark (Rhincodon typus)
• Whalefish (Barbourisia rufa)
• Whiff (Lepidorhombus whiffiagonis)
• White Croaker (Genyonemus lineatus)
• White Shark (Carcharodon carcharias)
• Whitetip Reef Shark (Triaenodon obesus)
• Wobbegong (Orectolobus maculatus)
• Wolf Eel (Anarrhichthys ocellatus)
• Wolf Herring (Chirocentrus dorab)
• Wrasse (Thalassoma lunare)
• Wrymouth (Cryptacanthodes maculatus)