Fish Wheel
Spin the wheel and it names one fish. Choose a group first if you only want sharks and rays.
No spins yet. Each pick is listed here in order.
Every fish on the wheel, by group
Freshwater fish (15)
- Goldfish
- Koi
- Common carp
- Largemouth bass
- Bluegill
- Channel catfish
- Walleye
- Yellow perch
- Muskellunge
- Piranha
- Arapaima
- Electric eel
- Neon tetra
- Guppy
- Betta
Saltwater fish (15)
- Clownfish
- Yellow tang
- Parrotfish
- Seahorse
- Red lionfish
- Moorish idol
- Great barracuda
- Swordfish
- Sailfish
- Mahi-mahi
- Yellowfin tuna
- Ocean sunfish
- Flying fish
- Atlantic cod
- Pacific halibut
Sharks and rays (15)
- Great white shark
- Whale shark
- Tiger shark
- Hammerhead shark
- Shortfin mako shark
- Blue shark
- Basking shark
- Nurse shark
- Leopard shark
- Zebra shark
- Thresher shark
- Manta ray
- Southern stingray
- Spotted eagle ray
- Electric ray
Deep-sea fish (12)
- Humpback anglerfish
- Viperfish
- Fangtooth
- Lanternfish
- Barreleye
- Smooth-head blobfish
- Giant oarfish
- Pelican eel
- Footballfish
- Black swallower
- Orange roughy
- Telescopefish
About the fish wheel
The wheel starts with every fish on it, 57 in all. Under “Choose a list” you can cut it down to one of 4 groups: “Freshwater fish” has 15 names, “Saltwater fish” 15, “Sharks and rays” 15 and “Deep-sea fish” 12. No fish sits in two groups, so sharks, rays and deep-sea fish are not repeated under “Saltwater fish”.
Every entry is a real fish, written with its common English name, such as Goldfish, Swordfish or Whale shark. Each name was checked against an encyclopedia, which has an article for every fish here. Scroll down and you can read all 57 names under their groups, which lets a parent or a teacher check the list before a class uses it.
For a class research project, switch on “Remove the winner after each spin” and let each student spin once. The fish that comes up leaves the wheel as the result window closes, so nobody shares a topic. Stay on the full wheel for that: “Deep-sea fish” alone runs out after 12 spins.
What to do with a random fish
- Spin a fish and draw it before you look up what it really looks like.
- Hand out report topics: one spin per student, one fish per report.
- Play 20 questions: one player spins out of sight and the others ask yes-or-no questions until they name the fish.
- Name a team, a reading group or a new pet after the fish that comes up.
How to use the wheel
- Type or paste your options, one per line. The wheel redraws as you type.
- Press Spin, click the wheel, or press Ctrl+Enter while you are in the list.
- Read the pick. Remove it from the wheel if nobody should be picked twice, then spin again.
How the pick is made
Before the wheel moves, your browser draws one slice at random with crypto.getRandomValues, the same generator browsers use for security keys. Every slice has the same chance. The spin you watch only plays that result out.
Nothing about the animation changes the outcome: not how hard you click, not how long the wheel turns, not the size of your screen. The pointer always stops inside a slice, never on a line.
Your list stays in your browser. A link you copy carries the list inside the link itself, so nothing is uploaded.
Questions about the fish wheel
- Why are whales and dolphins not on the fish wheel?
- Because they are not fish. Jellyfish, starfish and shellfish are left off for the same reason. The whale shark stays, because it is a shark.
- Are sharks and rays really fish?
- Yes. Every entry on this wheel is a fish, and that includes all 15 names under “Sharks and rays”.
- Can I spin for sharks only?
- Yes, with one extra step. Choose “Sharks and rays”, delete the lines that end in “ray”, and spin what is left.
- Does the wheel show a picture of the fish?
- No. The result window shows the name and nothing more, and the wheel does not look anything up online. Finding a photo is up to you.
- Where does this list of fish come from?
- It was written for this site, and none of it comes out of a book, an app, a game or another website.