Esociformes

The Esocoidei () is a small suborder of freshwater ray-finned fish, one of two suborders in the order Salmoniformes. It contains two families, Umbridae and Esocidae. The pikes of genus Esox give the order its name.

This order is closely related to the Salmonoidei, the two comprising the order Salmoniformes. The esociform fishes first appeared in the late Cretaceous — early products of the Euteleostei radiation of that time. They diverged from their sister group Salmoniformes about 110 million years ago, with the extant species having evolved from a common ancestor that lived about 90 million years ago. Today, they are found in weed-choked freshwater habitats in North America and northern Eurasia.