Esocoidei

{{Short description|Order of ray-finned fishes}} {{Automatic taxobox | fossil_range = {{fossil range|Campanian|present}} | image = Esox lucius1.jpg | image_caption = Northern pike (''Esox lucius'') | taxon = Esocoidei | authority = Bleeker, 1859 | subdivision_ranks = Families | subdivision = * Esocidae {{small|G. Cuvier, 1817}} * Umbridae {{small|Bonaparte, 1845}} | synonyms = * Esociformes {{small|Bleeker, 1859}} * Haplomi * Esocae * Umbriformes {{small|Günther, 1866}} | type_species = ''Esox lucius'' | type_species_authority = Linnaeus, 1758 }}

The '''Esocoidei''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|iː|s|ɒ|s|ᵻ|f|ɔːr|m|iː|z}}) is a small suborder of freshwater ray-finned fish, one of two suborders in the order Salmoniformes. It contains two families, Umbridae and Esocidae.<ref name=":1322">{{Cite web |last=Fricke |first=R. |last2=Eschmeyer |first2=W. N. |last3=Van der Laan |first3=R. |date=2025 |title=ESCHMEYER'S CATALOG OF FISHES: CLASSIFICATION |url=https://www.calacademy.org/eschmeyers-catalog-of-fishes-classification |access-date=2025-02-10 |website=California Academy of Sciences |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qOLODwAAQBAJ&dq=Esociforms+freshwater+Umbridae+Esocidae&pg=PA487 | title=Fishes of Arkansas | isbn=978-1-68226-103-3 | last1=Robison | first1=Henry W. | last2=Buchanan | first2=Thomas M. | date=11 March 2020 | publisher=University of Arkansas Press }}</ref> The pikes of genus ''Esox'' give the order its name.

This order is closely related to the Salmonoidei, the two comprising the order Salmoniformes.<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal |last=Near |first=Thomas J. |last2=Thacker |first2=Christine E. |date=2024-04-18 |title=Phylogenetic Classification of Living and Fossil Ray-Finned Fishes (Actinopterygii) |url=https://bioone.org/journals/bulletin-of-the-peabody-museum-of-natural-history/volume-65/issue-1/014.065.0101/Phylogenetic-Classification-of-Living-and-Fossil-Ray-Finned-Fishes-Actinopterygii/10.3374/014.065.0101.full |journal=Bulletin of the Peabody Museum of Natural History |volume=65 |issue=1 |doi=10.3374/014.065.0101 |issn=0079-032X|url-access=subscription }}</ref> The esociform fishes first appeared in the late Cretaceous — early products of the Euteleostei radiation of that time.<ref name=":2">{{Cite journal |last=Wilson |first=Mark V. H. |last2=Brinkman |first2=Donald B. |last3=Neuman |first3=Andrew G. |date=1992 |title=Cretaceous Esocoidei (Teleostei): early radiation of the pikes in North American fresh waters |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-paleontology/article/abs/cretaceous-esocoidei-teleostei-early-radiation-of-the-pikes-in-north-american-fresh-waters/1886085B088AD3F7381EF8047E0A3835 |journal=Journal of Paleontology |language=en |volume=66 |issue=5 |pages=839–846 |doi=10.1017/S0022336000020849 |issn=0022-3360|url-access=subscription }}</ref> 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.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Pan |first1=Qiaowei |last2=Feron |first2=Romain |last3=Jouanno |first3=Elodie |last4=Darras |first4=Hugo |last5=Herpin |first5=Amaury |last6=Koop |first6=Ben |last7=Rondeau |first7=Eric |last8=Goetz |first8=Frederick W. |last9=Larson |first9=Wesley A. |last10=Bernatchez |first10=Louis |last11=Tringali |first11=Mike |last12=Curran |first12=Stephen S. |last13=Saillant |first13=Eric |last14=Denys |first14=Gael Pj |last15=von Hippel |first15=Frank A. |date=2021 |title=The rise and fall of the ancient northern pike master sex-determining gene |journal=eLife |volume=10 |article-number=e62858 |doi=10.7554/eLife.62858 |doi-access=free |pmc=7870143 |pmid=33506762}}</ref> Today, they are found in weed-choked freshwater habitats in North America and northern Eurasia.

== Taxonomy == In the past, they were often placed in the order Salmoniformes as the suborder Esocoidei.<ref name=":2" /> During the early 21st century, due to their morphological divergence from Salmoniformes, they were instead treated as their own order, '''Esociformes'''.<ref name="Nelson5">{{cite book |author1=J. S. Nelson |url=https://sites.google.com/site/fotw5th/ |title=Fishes of the World |author2=T. C. Grande |author3=M. V. H. Wilson |publisher=Wiley |year=2016 |isbn=978-1-118-34233-6 |edition=5th |page=348 |access-date=2019-02-23 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190408194051/https://sites.google.com/site/fotw5th/ |archive-date=2019-04-08 }}</ref> However, as phylogenetic studies have increasingly affirmed the relationship of Salmoniformes and Esociformes, more recent taxonomic authorities have revived the old classification of placing esocoids as a suborder of the Salmoniformes.<ref name=":1322" /><ref name=":1" />

The following families are placed in this group:<ref name=":1322" />

* Suborder '''Esocoidei''' ** Family Esocidae Rafinesque, 1815 - pikes *** Subfamily Dalliinae Jordan, 1885 - blackfishes *** Subfamily Esocinae Rafinesque, 1815 - pikes ** Family Umbridae Bonaparte, 1845 - mudminnows

Several esocid genera are known from the Late Cretaceous of North America, including †''Estesesox'' Wilson, Brinkman & Neuman, 1992, †''Oldmanesox'' Wilson, Brinkman & Neuman, 1992, †''Archaeosiilik'' Brinkman ''et al.'', 2025 & †''Nunikuluk'' Brinkman ''et al.'', 2025. Their presence makes esocids one of the few North American freshwater teleost groups to have diversified prior to the Cretaceous-Paleogene extinction event.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2" />

The three extant esocid genera (''Esox'', ''Novumbra'', and ''Dallia'') together comprise a holarctic distribution. Two additional genera have been described from fossils dating to the Cretaceous of North America.<ref name="Oldmansox">{{cite journal |last1=Wilson |first1=M. |last2=Brinkman |first2=D. |last3=Neuman |first3=A. |year=1992 |title=Cretaceous Esocoidei (Teleostei): early radiation of the pikes in North American fresh waters |journal=Journal of Paleontology |volume=66 |issue=5 |pages=839–846|doi=10.1017/S0022336000020849 |bibcode=1992JPal...66..839W |s2cid=132270276 }}</ref> ''Umbra'' remains the only extant genus in the family Umbridae, and can be found in eastern North America and Europe. Three additional genera have been described from fossils dating from the Paleocene of Europe; however, genetic studies on the extant species of ''Umbra'' have recovered a split between the North American and European species dating to the Late Cretaceous and earliest half of the Paleogene.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|last1=Marić|first1=Saša|last2=Stanković|first2=David|last3=Wanzenböck|first3=Josef|last4=Šanda|first4=Radek|last5=Erős|first5=Tibor|last6=Takács|first6=Péter|last7=Specziár|first7=András|last8=Sekulić|first8=Nenad|last9=Bănăduc|first9=Doru|last10=Ćaleta|first10=Marko|last11=Trombitsky|first11=Ilya|date=May 2017|title=Phylogeography and population genetics of the European mudminnow (Umbra krameri) with a time-calibrated phylogeny for the family Umbridae|url=http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10750-016-3051-9|journal=Hydrobiologia|language=en|volume=792|issue=1|pages=151–168|doi=10.1007/s10750-016-3051-9|s2cid=254550945 |issn=0018-8158|doi-access=free}}</ref>

=== Relationships === While the family Esocidae traditionally only contained the genus Esox, recent genetic and paleontological research have recovered ''Novumbra'' and ''Dallia'' as members of the family Esocidae, being closer related to ''Esox'' than ''Umbra''. ''Umbra'' is the only remaining extant species in Umbridae.<ref name=":0" /> Various fossils have been described as members of Esociformes and are placed on the following tree accordingly.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Near |first=Thomas J. |last2=Thacker |first2=Christine E. |date=2024-04-18 |title=Phylogenetic Classification of Living and Fossil Ray-Finned Fishes (Actinopterygii) |url=https://bioone.org/journals/bulletin-of-the-peabody-museum-of-natural-history/volume-65/issue-1/014.065.0101/Phylogenetic-Classification-of-Living-and-Fossil-Ray-Finned-Fishes-Actinopterygii/10.3374/014.065.0101.full |journal=Bulletin of the Peabody Museum of Natural History |volume=65 |issue=1 |doi=10.3374/014.065.0101 |issn=0079-032X|url-access=subscription }}</ref>{{clade |style=font-size:90%;line-height:90%; |label1='''Esocoidei''' |1={{clade |1=†''Oldmanesox'' |2=†''Estesesox'' |label3=Esocidae |3={{clade |1={{clade |1={{clade |1={{clade |1=''Esox'' 60px }} |2=''Novumbra'' 60px }} |3=''Dallia'' 60px }} }} |label4=Umbridae |4={{clade |label3=''Incertae sedis'' |1=†''Boltyshia'' |5={{clade |1=†''Palaeoesox''60px| |5={{clade |1=†''Proumbra'' |6={{clade |1=''Umbra'' 60px }} }} }} }} }} }}

== References == {{Reflist}}

* {{FishBase_order|order=Esociformes|year=2004|month=October}}

Category:Salmoniformes Category:Extant Campanian first appearances Category:Taxa named by Pieter Bleeker