Snailfish

Snailfish
Snailfish (probably Elassodiscus tremebundus) caught in the eastern Bering Sea
Scientific classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Perciformes
Suborder: Cottoidei
Superfamily: Cyclopteroidea
Family: Liparidae
T. N. Gill, 1861
Type genus
Liparis
Scopoli, 1777

The snailfishes or sea snails (not to be confused with invertebrate sea snails), are a family of marine ray-finned fishes. These fishes make up the Liparidae, a family classified within the order Scorpaeniformes.

Widely distributed from the Arctic to Antarctic Oceans, including the oceans in between, the snailfish family contains more than 30 genera and about 410 described species, but there are also many undescribed species. Snailfish are found at depths ranging from shallow coastal waters to more than 8,300 m (27,200 ft), including in seven ocean trenches.