fishies-text/field-guide/en-GB/getting-started/reef-journal.md
2026-11-10 23:30:31 +00:00

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# The Reef Journal
_The in-game guide and its public twin: where to find it and what it holds._
## Where it is
The Reef Journal is the notebook in the corner beside Aquariums and the Map (key 9 by default), and it is in the Menu too. It opens over your aquarium, your fish keep swimming, and Escape or the round close button above the bookmarks closes it. Your phone's Back closes it too. On a phone it shows one page at a time: under the close, the first tab lists the Guide's chapters and the last lists the pages of My Book, with Fish and Decorations between them. Out in the kelp forest, the [Pineapple House](https://fishies.lol/wiki/places/pineapple-house) is its reading room, so you can open it there too.
It is the same guide as the one on the website at fishies.lol/wiki, written once and shown in both places, so the two cannot disagree. Every number in it is read from the game’s own rules.
## What is inside
In the game the Reef Journal is a naturalist's specimen book with the Fishies cover on its front: it opens out of that cover, two pages open, and the page turns as you go, its sheet of tissue lifting with it. A tab for each chapter runs along its edge; rest on one and a tag beside the book names it. Search finds an article, a fish or a decoration by name.
The book has two parts. The Guide is the printed half: every article, on white pages under a printed frame, behind the cream tabs. My Book is your own half: your fish and decoration drawers, Collections, the records hall, Sea folk and Statistics, on ruled notebook pages behind the wooden tabs, with your finds mounted in photo corners. A brass rule on the edge parts the two, every page says which part it belongs to, and the red ribbon above them opens Contents: My Book on the left, the Guide's chapters and search on the right. Sea folk keeps every neighbour you have met in Open Water: their portrait, the day and place you met, what you have learned of them and the whole first meeting, every answer included, to read again. Statistics adds up your keeper life: time played, coins earned and spent, fish bought, bred, sold and released, care, races, expeditions, visits and gifts.
- Articles: every part of the game, with each rule explained once. Links inside the book stay inside the book.
- Fish: every species has a numbered plate in its habitat's drawer, and a ring shows how full each drawer and the whole book are, with a gilt badge once one is complete. An empty plate shows the faint silhouette and the level it unlocks at; open it to see where it lives and whether its egg is in the shop now. The first time you hatch a species, its plate fills in with ink. A fish's page shows its Latin name, its Stars and Care level, what sets it apart, its growth and sale facts, its home in the aquarium, a wax seal in the best quality you have had, a polaroid of your finest one, and your own record: how many live with you, how many you sold and at what best quality, when you first found it, and any you adopted or released. Plates of Gold and better are gilt. See [Stars](https://fishies.lol/wiki/mechanics/stars) and [Care level](https://fishies.lol/wiki/mechanics/care-level).
- Decorations: drawers by habitat too, each plate with its price, unlock level and category and a note on caring for it. In the game, a decoration's plate fills in once you have placed one.
- Collections and records: the Journal's gem tab holds the Collections pages (see [Collections](https://fishies.lol/wiki/mechanics/collections)), and its records hall keeps the server's firsts and records (see [Exhibition and fame](https://fishies.lol/wiki/mechanics/exhibition)).
## On the website
On the web the guide is at fishies.lol/wiki. Anyone can read it without an account, in every language the game speaks: see [Languages](https://fishies.lol/wiki/mechanics/languages). The Menu lists it with the other sites of Fishies: see [The Menu](https://fishies.lol/wiki/mechanics/menu).
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In the game: https://fishies.lol/wiki/mechanics/reef-journal · Fishies 0.8.24
This page is generated. Its text lives in [`locales/en-GB.json`](../../../locales/en-GB.json) under `wiki.topics.reef-journal`; correct it there.