Fish That Start With W

11 fish Animals and nature Checked 9 Oct 2026

Here are 11 fish that start with W, each with a one-line description so you can tell what it is. The best-known ones come first, then the full list in A to Z order.

Eleven fish start with W, and two of them are giants. The whale shark is a huge spotted shark of warm surface waters, and the white shark is a large hunter of warm seas.

White is a favorite first word here, with the whitefish, white sturgeon, white perch and white marlin. The walleye is a freshwater perch that many anglers chase, and the wahoo is a fast game fish found worldwide. The wolf fish lives in cold deep water and has strong teeth, while the wrasse is a tropical fish with fleshy lips.

Fish starting with W: 11
Best known: white shark, whitefish
Longest name: white sturgeon

Best-known fish that start with W

The ones most people will recognise, good for school lists, quizzes and games.

white shark
whitefish
walleye
whale shark

All fish that start with W

#	Name	What it is
1	wahoo	large fast-moving predacious food and game fish; found worldwide
2	walleye	pike-like freshwater perches
3	whale shark	large spotted shark of warm surface waters worldwide; resembles a whale and feeds chiefly on plankton
4	white marlin	small marlin (to 180 pounds) of western Atlantic
5	white perch	small silvery food and game fish of eastern United States streams
6	white shark	large aggressive shark widespread in warm seas; known to attack humans
7	white sturgeon	food and game fish of marine and fresh waters of northwestern coast of North America
8	whitefish	silvery herring-like freshwater food fish of cold lakes of the northern hemisphere
9	whiting	a food fish of the Atlantic waters of Europe resembling the cod; sometimes placed in genus Gadus
10	wolf fish	large ferocious northern deep-sea food fishes with strong teeth and no pelvic fins
11	wrasse	chiefly tropical marine fishes with fleshy lips and powerful teeth; usually brightly colored

Short fish with W

wahoo

Questions people ask

How many fish start with W?

This list has 11 fish starting with W, from well-known ones like white shark, whitefish, walleye to rarer kinds.

What fish start with W?

Well-known examples are white shark, whitefish, walleye, whale shark.

Source: Princeton WordNet, a public dictionary database, reviewed by our editors to keep only clear, real members of the list. Meanings are short dictionary glosses.

See every letter on one page: fish A to Z