FishWatch API

Beginner's Pick Animals / No Auth Required Beginner HTTPS CORS

Free to Use Varies (check documentation)

74 B

Metadata Score Metadata estimate · not endpoint-tested

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Overview

FishWatch by NOAA provides sustainability data, habitat info, and images for US fish species. No API key required—great for beginners exploring real government-sourced environmental data.

Beginner Tip

The real API endpoint is fishwatch.gov/api/species; the URL in the directory listing points to the info page, not the API itself.

Available Data

FishWatch data via REST API

Example Response

JSON Response

{
  "image_url": "https://api.example.com/fishwatch/random.jpg",
  "status": "success"
}

Field Reference

Species Name Common name of the fish species

Scientific Name Latin scientific name

Image Gallery Array of image objects with src URL and alt text

Habitat Description of where the species lives

Fishing Rate Current fishing sustainability rating such as "At Recommended Level"

Implementation Example

Request

const url = "https://www.fishwatch.gov/developers";
const response = await fetch(url);
if (!response.ok) throw new Error(`Request failed: ${response.status}`);
const data = await response.json();
console.log(data);

What Can You Build?

Note: These code examples are AI-generated and unverified. Always refer to the official API documentation for accurate usage.

Common Errors & Troubleshooting

Huge response payload Calling /api/species returns all ~100 species at once

✓ Append the species name to the path such as /api/species/atlantic-cod for a single entry

404 on species name Using common name with spaces instead of hyphens

✓ Replace spaces with hyphens: "atlantic cod" becomes atlantic-cod in the URL

Null image field Some species have no associated image in the database

✓ Always check if image is null before rendering an img tag

Metadata Score Breakdown

Estimated from metadata — endpoint not independently tested

This score is estimated from observable metadata — HTTPS support, authentication model, declared CORS, and documentation reachability — because the API requires authentication or exposes no publicly testable endpoint. The five-signal breakdown is only shown for live-tested APIs.

Metadata estimate · endpoint not independently tested

How is this scored? →