Carangiformes

Carangiformes is a large and diverse order of ray-finned fishes within the clade Percomorpha. It is part of a sister clade to the Ovalentaria, alongside its sister group, the Anabantaria (including Anabantiformes and Synbranchiformes). The order includes ecologically diverse groups such as the jacks and trevallies, flatfishes, barracudas, billfishes, and archerfishes.

The Carangiformes have been long regarded as a monotypic order with only the family Carangidae within it by some authorities, and the other current families within the order have been previously classified as part of the wider order Perciformes. The 5th edition of Fishes of the World classify six families within Carangiformes, with more recent authorities expanding the order to include up to 30 families, based on phylogenetic evidence. == Characteristics == While the expanded order Carangiformes is primarily defined by molecular data, the core group (suborder Carangoidei) shares specific synapomorphies: One or two tubular ossifications (prenasals) extending from the nasal bone, a trait shared with the archerfishes. Small, adherent cycloid scales.