Syngnathiformes

The Syngnathiformes are an order of ray-finned fishes that includes the pipefishes, seahorses, trumpetfishes, goatfish, dragonets, flying gurnards and sea moths, among others.

The flying gurnards are a family, Dactylopteridae, of marine fish notable for their greatly enlarged pectoral fins. As they cannot literally fly or glide in the air (like flying fish), an alternative name preferred by some authors is helmet gurnards. They have been regarded as the only family in the suborder Dactylopteroidei of the Scorpaeniformes. However, more recent molecular classifications put them in the order Syngnathiformes, in the superfamily Centriscoidea.

Callionymoidei is a suborder of syngnathiform fish containing two families, the dragonets Callionymidae and the Draconettidae. In the past, this group was treated as either the suborder Callionymoidei of the wider Perciformes (now known to be a paraphyletic treatment), or as a distinct order Callionymiformes. Nelson (2016) recognised it as a distinct oder but subsequent workers have suggested that if Callionymiformes is recognised as an order then the order Syngnathiformes is rendered paraphyletic and include Callionmyoidei within that taxon. It is presently considered a suborder of Syngnathif