Fish identification tools
If you've followed Matt Clarke's series of articles on fish identification and you want to try and identify some fish, try using these professional dichotomous keys for identifying a range of aquarium fishes.
An identification guide to the cyprinids of the genera Epalzeorhynchos and Crossocheilus sold in the aquarium trade under the common name of Flying fox.
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A dichotomous key to the Esomus genus of Flying barbs of India. This does not include some of the newer species which have been named since this key was originally published.
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FAQs on fish identification
Fish identification is a more complicated subject than you might imagine, and it's certainly not very accurate to identify a fish simply by looking at a picture of it in a book. Follow our three part series and you'll be able to identify most species of fish using scientific papers and dichotomous keys.Part I
The basics of fish ID, including an explanation of taxonomic characters and simple fish anatomy and details of how dichotomous keys work and how you can use them to identify unidentified fish.
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Part II
In the second part of this series on fish identification for experts, Matt Clarke explains how meristics can be used to tell similar species apart.
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Part III
Matt Clarke concludes his series of fish identification for experts by explaining why morphology is studied and how you can use it to identify your fish.
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