Most Expensive Fish in the World: Aquarium and Food Fish Ranked by Price

The most expensive fish in the world depends on what you mean by "expensive." For aquarium keepers, the Platinum Arowana holds the record at around $400,000. For food, a single Bluefin Tuna sold at auction for $3.1 million in 2019. Both categories are covered here.

What Makes a Fish Expensive?

Price doesn't come from one thing. It's usually a combination of factors — and understanding them makes the numbers make more sense.

Depth of habitat is one of the biggest drivers for marine fish. Collecting a fish from 500 feet below the surface isn't like netting something from a shallow reef. It requires submersibles or specialized equipment, and the fish itself needs to go through a slow decompression process just to survive the journey to the surface. That cost gets passed on.

Limited geographic range matters too. If a species exists only around one island group or one stretch of coastline, there's a hard ceiling on how many can ever enter the trade.

Legal restrictions cut supply further. Export bans, national harvest restrictions, and international wildlife treaties all reduce the number of fish legally available at any given time.

Captive breeding difficulty is what separates temporarily expensive fish from permanently expensive ones. The Lightning Clownfish is a useful example — it was once sold for close to $3,000 per fish. Once breeders cracked the captive breeding process, prices started falling steadily. Most deep-water marine species haven't reached that point yet.

Rare color mutations add a premium on top of everything else. A Platinum Arowana isn't just expensive because Arowanas are popular — it's expensive because the platinum color morph is genuinely rare, and demand for it in parts of Asia is high enough to support extreme pricing.

What's often overlooked is that prices aren't fixed. New collection sites, successful breeding programs, and shifting regulations can all move a species up or down the price scale within a few years.

Most Expensive Fish in the World: Quick Reference

Most Expensive Aquarium Fish

In practice, aquarium hobbyists who research rare fish quickly find that the gap between a $20 fish and a $20,000 fish isn't always about beauty — it's usually about logistics.

Most Expensive Freshwater Aquarium Fish

Platinum Arowana — Up to $400,000

The Platinum Arowana is the most expensive aquarium fish documented in the trade. Native to Southeast Asia, it grows up to three feet long and has large metallic scales that give it an almost prehistoric appearance. In parts of Asia — particularly China, Malaysia, and Singapore — the Arowana is believed to bring prosperity and good fortune, which has driven demand well beyond what rarity alone would explain.

The platinum color morph is the rarest of all Arowana variants. Gold, silver, and red morphs exist and are expensive in their own right, but platinum specimens command prices that other morphs don't come close to.

Worth noting: as documented by Wikipedia's entry on the Asian Arowana, the species is listed on CITES Appendix I — the most restrictive category — and is also covered under the US Endangered Species Act, making import and private ownership illegal in the United States.

Golden Alligator Gar — ~$7,000

The Golden Alligator Gar is a large, prehistoric-looking fish found in the southern United States. Its unusual yellowish-orange coloration comes from a genetic mutation that causes overproduction of yellow-orange pigment. These fish are occasionally spotted in the wild, but the mutation is rare enough that captive specimens fetch significant prices.

Platinum Alligator Gar — ~$7,000

Distinct from the Golden variant, the Platinum Alligator Gar has a near-white body. Both types can grow to 60 inches in captivity and require very large tanks with surface access — they breathe atmospheric air periodically and need that option available at all times.

Freshwater Polka Dot Stingray — ~$1,500

Native to Brazil, this species is no longer legally exported. Any specimen in the trade today should be captive-bred — which is harder than it sounds, keeping supply low and prices elevated. The most unusual documented specimen had a U-shaped head and atypical ring markings; it reportedly required hand-feeding and wouldn't have survived in the wild.

Lightning Clownfish — ~$1,000–$3,000 (and falling)

This is a useful one to understand. The Lightning Clownfish is a color morph of the Maroon Clownfish — a single wild-caught specimen that made its way into the trade and was eventually bred successfully.

Because it breeds true (offspring carry the same mutation), captive supply has grown steadily and prices have been declining for years. In another decade it will likely be a routine purchase. It's a clear example of what happens when captive breeding works.

Flowerhorn Cichlid — $200–$1,000+ (grade-dependent)

The Flowerhorn is entirely man-made — a hybrid developed in Malaysia, Taiwan, and Thailand in the late 1990s. High-grade specimens with pronounced head humps and vivid markings can fetch over $1,000.

It's also been released into the wild by owners who couldn't manage its size, and wild populations now exist in Singapore and Malaysia. Importation is banned in Australia.

Most Expensive Marine (Saltwater) Aquarium Fish

Deep-water marine fish are where prices get genuinely difficult to justify unless you understand the collection process. Most hobbyists never encounter these fish in a standard fish store.

Peppermint Angelfish — ~$30,000

At roughly three inches long, the Peppermint Angelfish is one of the most expensive fish per inch in the trade. It lives at depths of 150 to 360 feet around the Cook Islands and Rarotonga — deep enough that collection is both technically difficult and physically dangerous.

Very few enter the trade each year. If you want to see one without paying $30,000, the Waikiki Aquarium in Hawaii has had one on display.

Masked Angelfish — ~$20,000

Here's an interesting distinction: the Masked Angelfish isn't rare in the wild. It's relatively common in the waters around the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands. The price is high because Hawaii has strict regulations on harvesting marine species for the aquarium trade — not because the fish itself is on the edge of extinction. Legal supply is artificially constrained.

Bladefin Basslet — ~$8,000–$10,000

At 1.5 inches long, the Bladefin Basslet is one of the smallest fish to carry a five-figure price tag. It lives at over 500 feet depth near Curaçao, and collecting it requires a submersible. The fish itself, once acclimated, is apparently not difficult to keep — the price is entirely about the cost and risk of getting it out of the ocean alive.

Golden Basslet — ~$8,000

Similar deep-water collection challenges apply here. One important note: the Golden Basslet is sometimes confused with the Gold Assessor Basslet, which sells for around $100. They are completely different species. If someone is quoting you $100 for a "golden basslet," they're selling you something else.

Neptune Grouper — ~$5,000–$6,000

The Neptune Grouper lives at depths of up to 800 feet in the Western Pacific, around Australia, French Polynesia, and Fiji. It has a striking yellow body with red and pink markings.

What makes this fish unusual in the context of this list is that it also appears in Japanese fish markets — it's consumed as food as well as kept in aquariums, depending entirely on where it ends up after collection.

Australian Flathead Perch — ~$5,000

Despite the name, this isn't actually a perch. It lives on the deepwater reefs of eastern Australia, between northern New South Wales and southern Queensland, and its small native range keeps wild supply very limited. Todd Gardner successfully bred this species in captivity in 2017, which means prices are expected to fall as captive-bred specimens become more available.

Clarion Angelfish — ~$2,500

Collected primarily off the coast of Mexico, the Clarion Angelfish is listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List. It's one of the more accessible fish on this list — captive-bred specimens are available through Bali breeders.

Interestingly, the first batch of captive-bred Clarion Angelfish sold for $5,000 each, setting a record for the most expensive captive-bred fish ever sold at the time. Prices have come down since.

Wrought Iron Butterflyfish — ~$2,700

Native to the Izu Islands of Japan, the Wrought Iron Butterflyfish has near-metallic silver-black scales that make it visually unlike almost anything else in the marine hobby. In the wild, these fish occasionally gather in large schools — an unusual behavior that's striking to observe. Supply into the trade is limited, and most available specimens are wild-caught.

Aquarium Fish Price Comparison Table

Most Expensive Fish to Eat

The food fish category operates on a completely different logic from aquarium fish. Here, price is driven by flavor profile, fat content, cultural prestige, and the difficulty of getting the fish to a plate in good condition.

Bluefin Tuna — Up to $3.1 Million (Auction Record)

As reported by Fortune, the 2019 Japanese New Year auction at Toyosu Market saw a single 612-pound Bluefin Tuna sell for $3.1 million — approximately $5,000 per pound. That figure is an outlier driven partly by tradition and partly by competitive bidding between restaurant groups, and it doesn't reflect what you'd pay at a sushi restaurant.

At typical retail, high-grade Bluefin Tuna — particularly the fatty belly cut known as otoro — still commands significant premiums over most other fish. The species has been heavily overfished across the Pacific and Atlantic, and that scarcity is now baked into the price at every level of the market.

Empurau — ~$50 Per Bite

The empurau is a species of mahseer found in the rivers of Sarawak, Malaysia. It's been nicknamed "wang bu liao" in Mandarin — roughly translated as "unforgettable." A full fish can cost $800 to $1,200 or more, and one documented dining experience put the per-bite cost at approximately $50.

The fish feeds primarily on fruit from the native engkabang tree that falls into the water. Its unusual diet is widely cited as the source of its distinct flavor. That claim is reasonable but difficult to verify — the relationship between an animal's diet and the flavor of its flesh is real but often overstated.

What's not in dispute is that the empurau's habitat is shrinking fast, overfishing has reduced populations significantly, and getting to where they still exist requires real effort.

Beluga Sturgeon — Caviar at $3,500–$5,000+ Per Kilogram

The Beluga Sturgeon itself isn't typically sold as a food fish in the conventional sense — it's the source of Beluga caviar, which is among the most expensive food products in the world.

Wild Beluga caviar import has been banned in the United States since 2005. The fish is listed under CITES Appendix II, reflecting serious concern about overharvesting from wild stocks in the Caspian and Black Seas.

Pumpkin Swordfish — Premium Above Standard Market Price

Pumpkin swordfish aren't a separate species — they're regular swordfish that have consumed large quantities of deep-water shrimp, causing their flesh to take on an orange tint from the crustacean pigment.

Chefs and wholesale buyers pay meaningfully more for pumpkin swordfish than for standard white-flesh specimens. The flavor difference is debated — some tasters find it notable, others find it subtle — but the premium pricing is real and consistent in certain markets.

Most Expensive Food Fish: At a Glance

Conclusion

The most expensive fish in the world span two different markets with different logic. Aquarium prices are driven by depth, rarity, and legal access. Food fish prices reflect scarcity, cultural demand, and flavor prestige. In both categories, prices shift — captive breeding and regulation changes continue to reshape the market.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the single most expensive fish ever sold?

For aquarium fish, the Platinum Arowana holds the highest documented price at around $400,000. For food fish, a Bluefin Tuna sold at the Toyosu auction in Japan for $3.1 million in 2019 — the highest on record.

Why is the Asian Arowana illegal in the United States?

The Asian Arowana is listed on CITES Appendix I, which restricts international commercial trade in species threatened with extinction. The US also covers it under the Endangered Species Act. Import and sale are both prohibited.

What makes deep-water fish so expensive to collect?

Fish living below 300 feet require submersibles or specialized rebreather diving. They also need a slow decompression process to survive being brought to the surface. The cost and physical risk of that process is directly reflected in the retail price.

Can expensive aquarium fish be bred in captivity?

Some can. The Lightning Clownfish and Australian Flathead Perch are now captive-bred, and prices have dropped as a result. Most deep-water marine species — Peppermint Angelfish, Bladefin Basslet, Golden Basslet — have not been successfully bred in captivity yet.

Are expensive aquarium fish a good investment?

There's no established resale market for aquarium fish the way there is for art or watches. Prices are volatile and driven by hobby demand. A fish that costs $5,000 today may be worth significantly less if captive breeding succeeds in the next few years.