Labriformes

Labriformes is an order of ray-finned fishes within the clade Percomorpha.^[3] Some authors include the Labriformes as the clade Labroidei within the Perciformes while others include more families within the Labriformes, such as the cichlids and damselfishes.^[3] This order was previously restricted to wrasses, parrotfishes, cales, and their close relatives, but most recent studies suggest that the Labriformes also contains highly aberrant groups such as the stargazers and sand lances, which are placed in their own suborder. Almost all members of this order are marine, with the only exception being the amphidromous torrentfish of New Zealand.^[4]

Labriformes Temporal range: Early Eocene–recent PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
Cuckoo wrasse (Labrus mixtus)
Atlantic stargazer Uranoscopus scaber
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Actinopterygii
Clade:	Eupercaria
Order:	Labriformes Kaufman & Liem, 1982[1]
Type species
Labrus mixtus Linnaeus, 1758[2]
Families
See text

Families

The following families are classified within this order, based on Catalog of Fishes (2025):^[5]

• Order Labriformes
  • Suborder Labroidei
    • Family Centrogenyidae Fowler, 1907 (false scorpionfishes)
    • Family Labridae Cuvier, 1816 (wrasses and parrotfishes)
    • Family Odacidae Günther, 1861 (cales)
  • Suborder Uranoscopoidei
    • Family Ammodytidae Bonaparte, 1835 (sand lances)
    • Family Uranoscopidae Bonaparte ,1831 (stargazers)
    • Family Leptoscopidae Gill, 1859 (southern sandfishes)
    • Family Pinguipedidae Günther, 1860 (sandperches)
    • Family Cheimarrichthyidae Regan, 1913 (torrentfish)

*Nota bene: Although traditionally considered its own family Scaridae, parrotfish have more recently been found deeply nested within the wrasse family Labridae by molecular phylogenetics, such that parrotfish are instead classified in the tribe Scarini.^[6]