Play Fish Eat Fish Online, a Free Ocean Fish Game

Fish Eat Fish is the sea game with one rule: eat fish smaller than you and keep away from bigger ones. Fill the evolution ring to grow into the next fish, from clownfish to damselfish, parrotfish, grouper and reef shark. Coral Shallows has five levels, the last with a giant humphead wrasse that turns and flees once you reach the top tier. Three stars a level, a 12-entry codex with a real fact in each and rare colours to collect, and a Daily Sea that is the same for everyone. Play Fish Eat Fish free in your browser — no download, no account.

Why play Fish Eat Fish here?

Nothing to memorise: a fish bigger than you wears a red outline and one your size a white one, so you can tell at a glance what is food. Three undersea worlds painted from life — a coral reef, a kelp forest and the open ocean — with real species drawn as they look and behave: grow from clownfish to reef shark on the coral, hide in the kelp from diving pelicans, and in the open ocean follow a whale shark for protection or rise from the glowing dark of the twilight zone until you become a humpback. A rare fish in an unusual colour turns up once in most levels; eat it for a ten-second gold rush in which growth counts double. Each fish you eat lights up its entry in a 50-entry codex with a real fact about it, and the Daily Sea is the same for everyone, so you can share your time.

How You WinGrow to the top and clear the level before your three lives run out: fill the evolution ring again and again until you are the biggest fish of that sea, then fill it once more. A few levels are cleared another way: The Hunt when you have eaten 10 squirrelfish, Night Tide when you have eaten 10 squid, The Overlord when you catch the giant humphead wrasse, and Whale Song the moment you become a humpback.

Levels: 17 across three seas, plus a Daily Sea
Rule: Eat smaller fish, avoid bigger ones
Lives: 3 a level, with a 2-second shield on return

How to play Fish Eat Fish in one minute

Eat fish smaller than you and keep away from bigger ones. A bigger fish wears a red outline and one your size a white one; a fish your size just bounces off.
Every fish you eat fills the evolution ring. Fill it and you grow into the next fish — in Coral Shallows clownfish, blue tang, parrotfish, grouper, then reef shark. You never shrink back.
On a computer your fish swims toward the mouse pointer, or steer with the arrow keys or WASD. On a phone, put your thumb down anywhere and drag: that spot becomes the joystick, and the further you drag, the faster you swim.
From the second sea on you can dash: press Space or click, or on a phone tap with a second finger. A dash costs a little growth.
You have three lives. Each time you are eaten you come back with a two-second shield.

Three seas, 17 levels: Coral Shallows, the Kelp Forest and the Open Ocean. Each level has three stars: clear it, find its three starfish (sea hearts in the ocean), and meet its own goal. Stars never lock a level. The Daily Sea is the same sea for everyone that day.

Playing Fish Eat Fish here: common questions

Is Fish Eat Fish free, and do I need to download anything?

It is free, with no download and no login. It runs in the browser on a phone or a computer.

Are the other fish real players?

No. There are no other players here; every fish in the sea is part of the game. The Daily Sea is the same for everyone each day, so you can share your time and compare.

Can I play on my phone?

Yes. Put your thumb down anywhere and drag: that spot becomes a floating joystick, and the further you drag, the faster you swim. One thumb is all it takes.

Do I need three stars to go on to the next level?

No. Stars never lock a level. The three stars are for clearing the level, finding its three starfish (three sea hearts in the Open Ocean), and meeting its own goal: no deaths, a time, or a streak.

The three seas of Fish Eat Fish

Coral Shallows, the first sea, has 6 levels. You start as a clownfish, and the first level, First Swim, shows you how to swim, eat, dodge and grow, one step at a time. Then come Schools, built for streaks; The Hunt, cleared by eating 10 squirrelfish, with garden eels that duck into the sand when a big fish rushes them; Shadows, with more big fish, trumpetfish darting out from beside them and lionfish that can't be bitten head-on with their spines up; Blue Holes, after the Blue Holes of Palau; and The Overlord, where you chase down a giant humphead wrasse at the reef wall.
The Kelp Forest has 6 levels, and from here on you can dash (it costs a little growth), and some steps let you pick your next fish. Dash is about catching fast mackerel; in Plunge a shadow on the surface means a brown pelican is about to dive; in The Kelp you can hide among the fronds while small; Night Tide shows only a circle around you; on The Rocky Shore garibaldi charge anything bigger that comes onto their rock; and in Rewilding you grow into a sheephead or sea otter to eat the urchins so the kelp grows back.
The Open Ocean has 5 levels and no seabed; instead of starfish you look for sea hearts, seeds drifting just under the surface. In Sargassum the drifting weed mats are the only cover; in Flying Fish your prey leaps out and glides, and tropicbirds dive from the sky; in Escort predators leave you alone beside a whale shark or a squadron of mantas; in Fish Storm the far water darkens before a huge school and its hunters arrive; and in Whale Song you grow from the dark of the twilight zone up to the light until you become a humpback.
The Daily Sea is the same sea for everyone each day, taking the three seas in turn. Clear it as fast as you can and share your time.

Complete Rules

You can eat any fish smaller than you. A fish bigger than you eats you if it catches you, and a fish your size bounces off.
Bigger fish wear a red outline and fish your size a white one. Shrimp and fish with no outline are smaller than you. The big animals that live on plankton or jellies (giant mantas, leatherbacks, ocean sunfish, humpbacks and others) never eat you; they only bump you aside.
Every fish you eat fills the evolution ring. When it is full you become the next fish. You never shrink back.
From the Kelp Forest on you can dash: press Space or click on a computer, or tap with a second finger on a phone. Each dash costs a little growth.
You have three lives a level. After being eaten you come back with a two-second shield; when all three are gone, the level is lost.
Each level has three stars: one for clearing it, one for finding all three starfish (sea hearts in the Open Ocean), and one for the level's own goal (no deaths, a time or a streak). Stars never lock a level.
A rare fish in an unusual colour appears once in most levels. Eating it starts a ten-second gold rush in which growth counts double.

Your First Game

Start with the shrimp and the fish that have no outline. They can never hurt you, and every one of them moves the evolution ring on.
Check the outline before you swim close. Red means turn away; white means that fish will only bounce you off, so it is not worth chasing.
Watch the edges of the screen. Red arrows point to bigger fish just outside your view, so you know where the danger is before it arrives.
Use the two-second shield after being eaten to get well away from the fish that caught you, rather than swimming straight back in.
While you are small, use cover: coral thickets, kelp, drifting sargassum. Tucked inside, the big fish can't see you.

Practical Strategy

Eat in quick runs. Keeping a streak going grows you faster than picking off fish one at a time, and Schools, Plunge and Fish Storm are built around it.
When the rare fish shows up, go for it, then spend the ten-second gold rush where small fish are thickest: all of it counts double.
Grow before you hunt. The Hunt's squirrelfish start out bigger than you (red outline), then your size (white outline, they only bounce off). Give chase once their outline is gone.
Save your dash for fish that are too fast to catch or hunters too close to outswim. Every dash costs growth, so it is no way to get around.
In Escort and Fish Storm, lead your pursuers toward the big animals: hunters leave you alone beside a whale shark or the mantas, and a Portuguese man o' war stings other fish but only bounces you off.

Winning and Special Rules

Codex. The codex has 50 entries across the three seas, each with a real fact about that animal. An entry lights up the first time you eat that fish (an overlord the first time you see it) and shows its full card after three (an overlord after one). Sixteen of them also have a rare colour to collect.
Daily Sea. Everyone gets the same sea each day, built from the same seed, the three seas taking turns. Clear it and share your time to compare with friends.
Stars never lock a level. They record how you played it — cleared, every starfish or sea heart found, its own goal met — and are there to come back for, not to get stuck on.

Common Mistakes

Chasing a fish with a white outline. It is your size and will only bounce off, so the time is better spent on smaller fish.
Swimming blind into the edge of the screen. A red arrow there means a bigger fish is just out of view.
Chasing The Hunt's squirrelfish too early. While they still wear a red or white outline, they either eat you or bounce you off.
Taking on an overlord before you reach the top tier. Until then it outsizes you and everyone else in the sea.
Swimming along the surface while small. Brown pelicans in the Kelp Forest and tropicbirds in the Open Ocean dive from the air for small fish.

Fish Eat Fish FAQ

How do I know which fish I can eat?

Look at the outline. A fish bigger than you wears a red outline: keep away. A fish your size wears a white one and only bounces off you. Shrimp and fish with no outline are smaller than you, and they are food. There is nothing to memorise.

How do I grow into a bigger fish?

Every fish you eat fills the evolution ring. When it is full you become the next fish in the chain. Each sea has its own: Coral Shallows runs from clownfish to reef shark, the Kelp Forest from sardine to sea lion or electric ray, the Open Ocean from planehead filefish to yellowfin tuna. In the Kelp Forest some steps let you pick one of two fish, each with its own kind of dash. You never shrink back.

What happens when I get eaten?

You lose one of your three lives and come back a moment later with a two-second shield. When all three are gone the level is lost, and you can play it again from the start.

What is the rare fish?

Most levels send one rare fish your way: a fish of the sea in an unusual colour — golden, white, black or blue. Eat it and a ten-second gold rush starts, in which everything you eat counts double toward growing. The colour is kept in your codex, and if it is one of your own fish you can swim in that colour.

Is this like Feeding Frenzy, Hungry Shark or Feed and Grow?

It is the same kind of game: eat smaller fish, keep away from bigger ones, grow. Feeding Frenzy is PopCap's 2004 classic, played level by level; Hungry Shark is Ubisoft's mobile shark series, where bigger sharks are unlocked with coins, and coins and gems can also be bought; Feed and Grow: Fish is a paid 3D game on Steam. This one runs in your browser: free, no download, 17 levels across three seas painted from life, growing from a small fish into a shark or a humpback, with nothing to buy.