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Fish... or Not a Fish?

Try to guess whether each of these creatures is a fish ... or not a fish.
Quiz by interopia
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Last updated: October 12, 2021
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First submittedApril 15, 2019
Times taken33,493
Average score72.7%
Rating4.34
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1. Catfish
Fish ✓
Not ✓
2. Lionfish
Fish ✓
Not ✓
3. Cuttlefish
Fish ✓
Not ✓
Cuttlefish are mollusks. They are close relatives of squid and octupuses.
4. Jellyfish
Fish ✓
Not ✓
5. Lungfish
Fish ✓
Not ✓
6. Crayfish
Fish ✓
Not ✓
Crayfish, also known as crawdads, are freshwater crustaceans.
7. Shellfish
Fish ✓
Not ✓
Shellfish is a generic term that refers to certain marine animals such as shrimp, mussels, and lobsters
8. Stonefish
Fish ✓
Not ✓
9. Silverfish
Fish ✓
Not ✓
Silverfish are small wingless insects that like to eat wallpaper.
10. Starfish
Fish ✓
Not ✓
11. Seahorse
Fish ✓
Not ✓
12. Sea urchin
Fish ✓
Not ✓
13. Sea snake
Fish ✓
Not ✓
14. Eel
Fish ✓
Not ✓
15. Tadpole
Fish ✓
Not ✓
A tadpole is the larval stage of a frog or toad.
16. Octopus
Fish ✓
Not ✓
17. Whale shark
Fish ✓
Not ✓
Whale sharks are the largest species of fish.
18. Porpoise
Fish ✓
Not ✓
19. Guppy
Fish ✓
Not ✓
20. Manta ray
Fish ✓
Not ✓
21. Manatee
Fish ✓
Not ✓
22. Lamprey
Fish ✓
Not ✓
interopia
+1
Level 85
Oct 7, 2021
Thanks for playing! Also try Bird... or Fish?
IsleAuHaulte
+12
Level 89
Dec 31, 2019
Fish / Not A Fish

The name of this has a great ring to it for a game.

redsplat
+8
Level 74
Jan 3, 2020
This isn't fish related, but in New Orleans, I was taught to play 'Costume / No Costume' by some locals. It essentially consists of people-watching while guessing whether passers-by are in costume or not. I remember being impressed by folks who seem to hit the sweet spot in-between. But then, I was wearing a tutu and eating a sandwich.
interopia
+2
Level 85
Dec 31, 2019
Also try Insect...or Not an Insect? and Reptile...or Amphibian?
HarshJha
+5
Level 53
Jan 1, 2020
Lamprey belongs to the phylum cyclostomata and not Pisces therefore lamprey are eel like creature and does not belong to fish
Sifhraven
+4
Level 67
Jan 1, 2020
So why didnt you make a comment about eel being categorised as fish here??
cmountenay
+1
Level 86
Jan 1, 2020
Eels are bony fish, unlike lampreys.
interopia
+3
Level 85
Jan 1, 2020
They are jawless fish.
cmountenay
+3
Level 86
Jan 1, 2020
I mean, if we're going to be technical, all bony fish are more closely related to terrestrial vertebrates than they are to cartilaginous and jawless fish.
jm
+2
Level 84
Jan 1, 2020
Cyclostomata is not a phylum, is a subclass. Lampreys are chordates/vertebrates. It's long been called a fish, regardless of its taxonomy.
Arp2600
+1
Level 86
Jan 4, 2020
Lampreys are an ambiguous case, I don't think it's a good idea to include them in such a quiz.
Sifhraven
+2
Level 67
Jan 1, 2020
Somehow I got fooled by the seahorse... And also we were taught sharks and ray were a different subclass but it was so drilled in like you have fish and the cartilaginous fish (chondrichthyes). Obviously in more elementary school level words, "you have fish and sharks and rays". That division was taught so early and strongly that I dont really see them as fish, which they obviously are, because they are definitrly not mammals or birds. But I cant help but to think of them separately (the seperation obviously exists, but as two subclasses chondrichthyes and osteichthyes)
Sifhraven
+4
Level 67
Jan 1, 2020
Btw the word fish looks soooo weird now
Arp2600
+1
Level 86
Jan 4, 2020
Well, they are considered distinct classes, not even subclasses. In fact, there is the class of cartilaginous fish, the class of ray-finned fish and the... superclass? of the rest of vertebrates, which includes only eight species of lobe-finned fish.
Etanna
+1
Level 70
Apr 18, 2020
That's what they always taught us at school, too! In my language, we even have a more reasonable name for them (fish - ryba, chondrichthyes - paryba) that implies that they're ancient, fish-like creatures.
Etanna
+2
Level 70
Apr 18, 2020
I looked it up on Wikipedia and it seems that "fish" is a rather general term that is not part of the phylogenetic classification. It's only typological and as such includes sharks and rays etc. In Czech, however, the term for this is a little different (even though we often use the word for fish in this sense, as well, but it's done just for simplification and is considered incorrect).

What we mean by "fish" (ryby) in Czech is the paraphyletic superclass "osteichthyes" (bony fish). That's why we don't consider sharks as fish.

So the term fish isn't part of the scientific classification but it's a popular, demotic word which has a different meaning in each language. I find it quite interesting how the meaning of this word, which I thought was quite unambiguous, is so different in different cultures.

svelte
+3
Level 51
Jan 1, 2020
I got all of them except Seahorse.
redsplat
+2
Level 74
Jan 3, 2020
Me too. I remember thinking, "Surely bearing live young disqualifies you from fishhood!"

("Thinking" is probably an exaggeration.)

kiwiquizzer
+2
Level 68
Jan 11, 2020
This is a cute comment!
Tramp
+1
Level 76
Jan 1, 2020
I had no idea eels, rays or seahorses were considered fish
Arp2600
+2
Level 86
Jan 4, 2020
Look at the picture of an eel, it clearly has fins and a fish head, though the are long (sea snakes, on the other hand, are, well, snakes). Rays and Sharks are cartilaginous fish, which are considered a distinct class to bony fish. Anyway, both classes are what are commonly called "fish".
andyjohn
+4
Level 35
Jan 2, 2020
I had no idea seahorse was a fish you learn something new everyday with these quizzes I love it
kalbahamut
+3
Level 82
Jan 2, 2020
I am the fish master
mf3
+1
Level 87
Jan 3, 2020
Yeah, what if "Bahamut" had been one of the entries? Fish or not fish?
kalbahamut
+1
Level 82
Jan 11, 2020
heh. Depends on the mythology if it's even a sea creature or not. But then, if it is, those originally writing about it had no concept of what a fish was apart from whales, dolphins, et cetera.
Liam315
+7
Level 69
Jan 3, 2020
This quiz is silly. Everyone knows that there's no such thing as a fish.
TWM03
+2
Level 70
Jan 11, 2020
This is scientifically accurate. The category of a fish is arbitrary.
GlassMonkeyCode
+1
Level 67
Mar 23, 2023
I agree.
Arp2600
+1
Level 86
Jan 4, 2020
Funny. I got most of them right. Only missed Lamprey (because it's ambiguous) and Silverfish which I should have translated because we call it the same way in French ("poisson d'argent")... by the way, its description is wrong, it is wingless, not winged ;) (and rather a protoinsect than a true insect but it doesn't really matter).
kiwiquizzer
+1
Level 68
Jan 11, 2020
Fun quiz. Got all but seahorse, manta ray and eel.
NTND
+2
Level 46
Jan 11, 2020
Got all of them except Manta Ray. Some were pretty obvious and some I didn't even know what they were in English so I had to think for a minut. XD
81928128
+2
Level 60
Jan 11, 2020
Almost got silverfish wrong; that's what we call whitebait. Realised quickly that this one probably referred to the insect.
davrousseau
+2
Level 68
Jan 11, 2020
after watching bbc docs this was a first try 100%
Luni
+2
Level 85
Jan 12, 2020
To fish or not to fish
goatman
+1
Level 58
Jan 14, 2020
"Fish" is a polyphyletic group and thus this quiz is inherently flawed
MetroidPrimeMeridian
+2
Level 51
Jan 20, 2020
I guess my knowledge on sea creatures is a little... FISHY! Ah? Ah? Hey, where's everybody going?
Sifhraven
+1
Level 67
Feb 4, 2020
Error in the explanation, silverfish do not have wings (in fact nowhere in their evolutionary line is there a species that has wings. They diverged before wings evolved. Unlike other insects without wings that do come from a lineage after wings have evolved, but have lost them again along the way.)
Sifhraven
+1
Level 67
Feb 4, 2020
Correction checkbox

( not sure if I checked the box or not, it's 2am and gone back and forward to all kinds of pages if I am not carefull it will be morning and I will have read up all about insects, evolution, flight dynamics and whatever I will come across, which links in with the previous subject.. Kind of what some people have with youtube, I have with research, before you know it you will have spend hours, going from one subject to the next.)

Iluvbread123
+1
Level 75
May 3, 2020
I got full in this, I guessed 18 of the as XD
QuizMaster124
+1
Level 19
Jun 19, 2020
I did much better than I thought I would! 14/22. :P
bonk
+1
Level 75
Jun 21, 2020
I got 21/22, guess I really like fish :D
Hampus
+1
Level 57
Sep 8, 2020
Only 35% knows that a seahorse is a fish? That's funny to me.
Peteylovesgolf
+1
Level 65
Sep 11, 2020
I got silverfish wrong as this is whitebait but I realised my mistake, however, I'd like to point out that silverfish are wingless, not winged insects. ;-)
interopia
+1
Level 85
Sep 11, 2020
Good catch! Thank you!
ItzIngenious
+1
Level 60
Oct 11, 2021
You never resubmitted it
interopia
+1
Level 85
Oct 11, 2021
OK it has definitely been changed and resubmitted now, and changes are pending!
Moos1005
+1
Level 84
Oct 13, 2020
Out of curiosity, what's your basis for defining fish in this quiz? Are you going by general categorization in everyday language or do you count certain biological groups, and if yes which ones?
TheRealGrantma
+2
Level 56
Nov 24, 2020
Guessed most of these and only got one wrong
thegoatisgoaty
+1
Level 71
Mar 31, 2021
same, got manta ray wrong
JackintheBox
+1
Level 79
Apr 10, 2021
I just missed silverfish and manta ray!!
ItzIngenious
+1
Level 60
Oct 11, 2021
In the explanation, you say silverfish have wings. This is false, at least for the silverfish I’m thinking of. Please change it.
interopia
+1
Level 85
Oct 11, 2021
Good catch! Thank you!
emwcee
+1
Level 45
Oct 19, 2021
Wow - I never knew seahorses were fish!
HappyQuizzer
+1
Level 67
Feb 5, 2022
Genuine question - what did people think seahorses were if not fish?
Figgy
+1
Level 43
Nov 29, 2022
Easy to just call them sea life
ARD7
+2
Level 55
Mar 9, 2023
Completely forgot what a starfish was for some reason
FatSpartanJediLlama
+2
Level 67
Aug 22, 2023
Holy @$#%@% I got all of them I right I was expecting to get at least a couple wrong, only reason I got them all is because I went to the aquarium recently and learned that seahorses, rays, eels, etc. are indeed fish. And some of them I feel like I got lucky on
FatSpartanJediLlama
+2
Level 67
Aug 22, 2023
Silverfish have gotta be some of my least favorite bugs, along with centipedes and crickets
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