F.I.S.H. 25 seven-foot fiberglass sunfish I-35

San Antonio, Texas, United States

Animals and creatures

✓

Current

Listed, not yet checked · Oct 2026

This Big Thing is recorded as still being here.

F.I.S.H. is a 2009 public artwork by Donald Lipski: 25 hand-painted fiberglass longear sunfish, each seven feet long, hanging beneath the I-35 overpass near Camden Street on San Antonio’s River Walk Museum Reach. Axios reported in August 2026 that the restored fish are back.

Private to your Passport.

PLAN YOUR VISIT

No recommended arrival yet

We have not checked a recommended place to arrive or stop here yet.

This takes you to the Big Thing itself. If stopping, choose a safe and legal place nearby.

F.I.S.H. 25 seven-foot fiberglass sunfish I-35

This pin marks the Big Thing itself. If stopping, choose a safe and legal place nearby.

Site-level location · 29.4444° N, 98.4794° W

FIELD GUIDE

The story

Twenty-five giant sunfish hang in the dark beneath an interstate overpass in San Antonio, and at night they glow.

F.I.S.H. is a 2009 work by the Philadelphia artist Donald Lipski for the Museum Reach, the extension of the San Antonio River Walk that passes under Interstate 35 near Camden Street. According to the San Antonio River Foundation, which commissioned and funded it, the fish are hand-painted fiberglass resin models of longear sunfish, a species native to the river, each seven feet long. Lipski’s own site says they are lit from within at night, with about 1,000 LEDs in each fish. The foundation adds that a 26th fish is on display inside The DoSeum, San Antonio’s museum for kids.

Writing in Glasstire in August 2009, a reviewer said the traffic noise overhead gave the piece an underwater feel, and that by night the lit fish seemed to swim through dark depths, while by day the cables and lines holding them were more visible. The review called it “probably the most surreal and amusing highway underpass you’re ever likely to visit”.

The installation has had a hard time of it. In February 2013, winds reaching 55 mph damaged it. Texas Public Radio reported that one fish fell completely, another was barely hanging on and others were broken apart, and the River Authority closed both sides of that stretch of the river path until repairs could be made.

In August 2026 Axios San Antonio reported that the fish are back. The fish had disappeared for a while as the city led an effort to restore them, it said, citing the San Antonio River Foundation. Axios says they glow at night and can be seen reflected in the water below, and that people can once again stop in the middle of the path to take photos.

Add a photo

PRACTICAL

Plan your stop

WHAT TO EXPECT

Twenty-five large fish sculptures hang under the I-35 overpass above the Museum Reach path. Lipski says they are lit from within at night; Axios reported in August 2026 that they glow and are reflected in the water below.

ACCESS

On the Museum Reach of the San Antonio River Walk, beneath the I-35 overpass near Camden Street. Axios describes people photographing the fish from the path beside the river.

COMMUNITY