Regions are freshwater biogeographic units — the drainage basins and lake systems that shape where fish evolved — not political maps. A fish whose range spans a boundary appears under each region it reaches. Grounded in the FEOW bioregions and standard freshwater biogeography.
Africa · 4,353 fish
- West Africa588 speciesThe Upper- and Lower-Guinea coasts and the western Sudanian savanna — from Senegal to Cameroon.
- Congo & Central Africa1,125 speciesThe vast Congo Basin and the Lower-Guinea rivers of Gabon and the Congos.
- East Africa & the Rift Lakes1,676 speciesThe Great Rift lakes — Tanganyika, Malawi, Victoria — and the rivers of the East African highlands.
- Southern Africa764 speciesThe Zambezi, Okavango, Limpopo and Cape rivers south of the equator.
- Nile & North Africa136 speciesThe Nile, the Sahel and the Maghreb — the rivers of the Sahara's margins.
- Madagascar & Indian Ocean64 speciesThe endemic freshwater fauna of Madagascar and the western Indian Ocean islands.
South America · 5,684 fish
- Amazon Basin2,535 speciesThe world's largest river basin — the Rio Negro, Solimões, Madeira, Xingu and Tapajós.
- Orinoco & Northern South America971 speciesThe Orinoco Llanos, the Maracaibo basin and the Caribbean-slope rivers of Colombia and Venezuela.
- The Guianas581 speciesThe Essequibo, Corantijn, Maroni and Oyapock — the rivers of Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana.
- Paraná–La Plata & the Southern Cone887 speciesThe Paraná, Paraguay, Uruguay and the Pantanal — the La Plata basin of Brazil's south, Argentina and Paraguay.
- Eastern Brazil & the Atlantic Coast528 speciesThe São Francisco and the Atlantic Forest coastal rivers of eastern Brazil.
- Andes & Pacific Slope179 speciesThe high Andean lakes and the Pacific-draining rivers from Colombia to Chile.
- Patagonia3 speciesThe cold, sparse rivers and lakes of southern Argentina and Chile.
North & Central America · 981 fish
Asia · 3,205 fish
- South Asia559 speciesThe Indian subcontinent — the Ganges, Brahmaputra, Western Ghats and Sri Lanka.
- Southeast Asia (Mainland)846 speciesThe Mekong, Chao Phraya, Salween and Irrawaddy of Indochina.
- Sundaland & Maritime Southeast Asia814 speciesThe blackwater rivers and peat swamps of Borneo, Sumatra, Java and the Malay Peninsula.
- East Asia676 speciesChina, Japan, Korea and Taiwan — the Yangtze, Pearl and Amur rivers.
- West & Central Asia310 speciesThe Middle East, the Caucasus and the Aral–Caspian basins of Central Asia.
Europe · 277 fish
Australasia & Oceania · 727 fish
15,227 region records across 6 continents. Counts sum to more than the atlas total because a wide-ranging fish is listed under every region it lives in. Prefer to browse by the water itself? Explore the waters →
← Back to the atlas