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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 taken39,446
Average score77.3%
Rating4.43
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1. Catfish
Fish
Not
2. Lionfish
Fish
Not
3. Cuttlefish
Cuttlefish are mollusks. They are close relatives of squid and octupuses.
Fish
Not
4. Jellyfish
Fish
Not
5. Lungfish
Fish
Not
6. Crayfish
Crayfish, also known as crawdads, are freshwater crustaceans.
Fish
Not
7. Shellfish
Shellfish is a generic term that refers to certain marine animals such as shrimp, mussels, and lobsters
Fish
Not
8. Stonefish
Fish
Not
9. Silverfish
Silverfish are small wingless insects that like to eat wallpaper.
Fish
Not
10. Starfish
Fish
Not
11. Seahorse
Fish
Not
12. Sea urchin
Fish
Not
13. Sea snake
Fish
Not
14. Eel
Fish
Not
15. Tadpole
A tadpole is the larval stage of a frog or toad.
Fish
Not
16. Octopus
Fish
Not
17. Whale shark
Whale sharks are the largest species of fish.
Fish
Not
18. Porpoise
Fish
Not
19. Guppy
Fish
Not
20. Manta ray
Fish
Not
21. Manatee
Fish
Not
22. Lamprey
Fish
Not
65 Comments
+1
Level 88
Oct 7, 2021
Thanks for playing! Also try Bird... or Fish?
+13
Level 91
Dec 31, 2019
Fish / Not A Fish

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

+9
Level 73
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.
+1
Level 48
May 13, 2024
That's a cool idea for a quiz, actually. A nice way to educate quizzers on the common dress of other cultures, and to find out what is actually considered a costume.
+2
Level 88
Dec 31, 2019
+5
Level 57
Jan 1, 2020
Lamprey belongs to the phylum cyclostomata and not Pisces therefore lamprey are eel like creature and does not belong to fish
+4
Level 73
Jan 1, 2020
So why didnt you make a comment about eel being categorised as fish here??
+1
Level 89
Jan 1, 2020
Eels are bony fish, unlike lampreys.
+1
Level 67
Apr 30, 2025
No, they're "eel like" in that they look like eels, they're not related.
+3
Level 88
Jan 1, 2020
They are jawless fish.
+4
Level 89
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.
+2
Level 87
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.
+2
Level 88
Jan 4, 2020
Lampreys are an ambiguous case, I don't think it's a good idea to include them in such a quiz.
+3
Level 73
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)
+6
Level 73
Jan 1, 2020
Btw the word fish looks soooo weird now
+1
Level 88
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.
+1
Level 72
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.
+3
Level 72
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.

+3
Level 50
Jan 1, 2020
I got all of them except Seahorse.
+2
Level 73
Jan 3, 2020
Me too. I remember thinking, "Surely bearing live young disqualifies you from fishhood!"

("Thinking" is probably an exaggeration.)

+3
Level 68
Jan 11, 2020
This is a cute comment!
+2
Level 78
Jan 1, 2020
I had no idea eels, rays or seahorses were considered fish
+2
Level 88
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".
+5
Level 34
Jan 2, 2020
I had no idea seahorse was a fish you learn something new everyday with these quizzes I love it
+3
Level 81
Jan 2, 2020
I am the fish master
+1
Level 89
Jan 3, 2020
Yeah, what if "Bahamut" had been one of the entries? Fish or not fish?
+1
Level 81
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.
+10
Level 72
Jan 3, 2020
This quiz is silly. Everyone knows that there's no such thing as a fish.
+2
Level 72
Jan 11, 2020
This is scientifically accurate. The category of a fish is arbitrary.
+1
Level 69
Mar 23, 2023
I agree.
+1
Level 88
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).
+2
Level 68
Jan 11, 2020
Fun quiz. Got all but seahorse, manta ray and eel.
+2
Level 45
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
+2
Level 61
Jan 11, 2020
Almost got silverfish wrong; that's what we call whitebait. Realised quickly that this one probably referred to the insect.
+2
Level 76
Jan 11, 2020
after watching bbc docs this was a first try 100%
+3
Level 89
Jan 12, 2020
To fish or not to fish
+2
Level 58
Jan 14, 2020
"Fish" is a polyphyletic group and thus this quiz is inherently flawed
+2
Level 50
Jan 20, 2020
I guess my knowledge on sea creatures is a little... FISHY! Ah? Ah? Hey, where's everybody going?
+1
Level 73
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.)
+1
Level 73
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.)

+1
Level 77
May 3, 2020
I got full in this, I guessed 18 of the as XD
+1
Level 18
Jun 19, 2020
I did much better than I thought I would! 14/22. :P
+1
Level 75
Jun 21, 2020
I got 21/22, guess I really like fish :D
+1
Level 56
Sep 8, 2020
Only 35% knows that a seahorse is a fish? That's funny to me.
+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. ;-)
+1
Level 88
Sep 11, 2020
Good catch! Thank you!
+1
Level 66
Oct 11, 2021
You never resubmitted it
+1
Level 88
Oct 11, 2021
OK it has definitely been changed and resubmitted now, and changes are pending!
+1
Level 86
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?
+2
Level 55
Nov 24, 2020
Guessed most of these and only got one wrong
+1
Level 71
Mar 31, 2021
same, got manta ray wrong
+1
Level 80
Apr 10, 2021
I just missed silverfish and manta ray!!
+1
Level 66
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.
+1
Level 88
Oct 11, 2021
Good catch! Thank you!
+1
Level 48
Oct 19, 2021
Wow - I never knew seahorses were fish!
+1
Level 68
Feb 5, 2022
Genuine question - what did people think seahorses were if not fish?
+1
Level 67
Apr 30, 2025
Aquatic breed of horse of course
+2
Level 55
Mar 9, 2023
Completely forgot what a starfish was for some reason
+2
Level 74
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
+2
Level 74
Aug 22, 2023
Silverfish have gotta be some of my least favorite bugs, along with centipedes and crickets
+1
Level 44
Jun 15, 2024
tadpoles are not animals
+1
Level 61
Jul 28, 2024
Aren't tadpoles, manatees, porpoises, and sea snakes all fish as well because they are in the superclass Tetrapoda, which is a group within Sarcopterygii, or lobe-finned fish?
+1
Level 67
Apr 30, 2025
This is why the paraphyletic grouping used should be defined :\
+2
Level 60
Oct 28, 2024
I'm listening to the History of English podcast and learned that way back in Old English "fish" meant anything that lives in the water, just like "deer" meant anything that lives in the forest. So that's how you got all these starfish, shellfish, crayfish and things with "fish" in their names--e.g. it's a star-shaped animal that lives in the water. But I was more surprised to learn people used to call rabbits, badgers, snakes, etc. "deer." (a modern deer was called a hart)
+1
Level 67
Apr 30, 2025
Please put in the caveats what definition you're using, "non-Tetrapod Vertebrates," because "fish" is not a clear scientific term and defining it by any "objective" measure is quite arbitrary. You could say "well people call it a fish" but... the point of the quiz is that people confuse things that "aren't fish" as "fish" lol