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In Star Trek Generations the Enterprise D crash lands on a planet and is effectively destroyed. We see that Data recovers his cat, Spot, but the fish Picard kept in his ready room is not seen or mentioned.

Memory-Alpha quotes an AOL chat where Ronald Moore suggests that Spot had eaten the fish prior to Data finding him/her, but the site later states that the fish was present in the ready room design on Enterprise E in the movie First Contact

When asked if Livingston had survived the crash in Generations, writer Ronald D. Moore suggested that the fish was eaten by Data's cat Spot by commenting "Spot had to eat something in those long hours before Data found him." (AOL chat, 1998)

Livingston's aquarium was not readily visible in Star Trek: First Contact, but production photos of the set reveal that it was present. Livingston was not part of the set for Star Trek: Insurrection and Star Trek Nemesis.

Bearing that in mind, what was the official ultimate fate of Picard's fish?

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    they die because he did not invite Kelly Chambers to dinner.
    – DavRob60
    Commented Jun 1, 2012 at 20:08
  • Is dead fish now an official meme of SFF? :)
    – DVK-on-Ahch-To
    Commented Jun 2, 2012 at 1:57
  • We never saw Picard feed the fish, so it was probably a hologram, like Riker's tabletop dancing girls, who were never fed either.
    – Kyle Jones
    Commented Jun 5, 2012 at 3:44
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    The fish was probably real and not a hologram. When Captain Jellico was in command he ordered someone to get that fish out of his ready room and when the crew de-evolved Riker was trying to get into the fish tank and even manage to damage it enough to where water was leaking out.
    – Rigas
    Commented Aug 27, 2012 at 22:11
  • The fish was a lionfish. If Spot tried to eat it, he'd be in for a very unpleasant experience.
    – whatsisname
    Commented Jul 13, 2016 at 4:59

2 Answers 2

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Picard's fish, Livingston, was present in Picard's ready room as early as 2364 (1st year of TNG) and as late as 2373 (First Contact).

Since Livingston is a Red Lionfish, which live up to 10 years, he'd be approximately 9 years old by the time of First Contact.
Assuming he survived, he'd be reaching the end of his natural life-span and since his aquarium wasn't visible in Insurrection (2375), he probably died of old age.

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    The question notes that it was in the set design for First Contact, but not visible onscreen (nor could I find it skimming through the movie). It looks like the quote from Memory Alpha had since been changed (since both question and answer are referencing the page on Livingston). Did you find it?
    – Izkata
    Commented Dec 17, 2012 at 1:05
  • @Izkata - The Livingston page at Memory Alpha still states the aquarium was in production photos of the set, I've not checked the DVD yet. I've also corrected him to a Red Lionfish (which has, on average, a shorter lifespan).
    – SteB
    Commented Dec 17, 2012 at 8:36
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    R.I.P. Livingston - the most valiant fish of them all
    – Often Right
    Commented Sep 2, 2015 at 0:07
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It was never established if "Livingston" survived the crash of the Enterprise D his bowl is shown at the end of Generations. But Livingston's aquarium was not readily visible in Star Trek: First Contact, but production photos of the set at a different angle show that it was present. Livingston was never seen again after. Given that lionfish have a lifespan up to 16 years it means even if he got the fish in 2364 (Picard taking command of Enterprise-D) it'd survive til 2380. enter image description here

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    What’s the photo of? Is it the production still previously mentioned? If so could you edit this to make it clear what it is?
    – TheLethalCarrot ♦
    Commented May 13, 2020 at 21:19

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