Cottoidei

Cottoidei is a suborder of ray-finned fishes which, according to the 5th edition of Fishes of the World, is placed within the order Scorpaeniformes, alongside the scorpionfishes, flatheads, eelpouts, sticklebacks and related fishes.

Taxonomy
Cottoidei was first proposed as a taxonomic grouping in 1835 by the Swiss-American zoologist Louis Agassiz. The 5th edition of Fishes of the World classifies the Cottoidei as a suborder of the order Scorpaeniformes. Other workers have found that if the Scorpaeniformes, as delimited in Fishes of the World, is not included in the Perciformes it renders the Perciformes paraphyletic. These workers retain the Cottoidei as a suborder within the Perciformes but include the zoarcoids and Sticklebacks and allies as the infraorders Zoarcales and Gasterosteales while reclassifying most the superfamilies of Fishes of the World as infraorders.

Subdivisions
The Cottoidei is divided into the following superfamilies and families:


 * Superfamily Anoplopomatoidea Quast, 1965
 * Family Anoplopomatidae Jordan & Gilbert, 1883 (Sablefishes)
 * Superfamily Zaniolepidoidea Shinohara, 1994
 * Family Zaniolepididae Jordan & Gilbert, 1883 (Combfishes)
 * Superfamily Hexagrammoidea Shinohara, 1994
 * Family Hexagrammidae Jordan, 1888 (Greenlings)
 * Superfamily Trichodontoidea Nazarkin & Voskoboinikova, 2000
 * Family Trichodontidae Bleeker, 1859 (Sandfishes)
 * Superfamily Cottoidea Gill, 1889
 * Family Jordaniidae Jordan & Evermann, 1898 (Longfin sculpins)
 * Family Rhamphocottidae Jordan & Gilbert, 1883 (Grunt sculpins)
 * Family Scorpaenichthyidae Jordan & Evermann, 1898
 * Family Agonidae Swainson, 1839 (Poachers and sea ravens)
 * Family Cottidae Bonaparte, 1831 (Sculpins)
 * Family Psychrolutidae Günther, 1861 (Bighead sculpins)
 * Family Bathylutichthyidae Balushkin & Voskoboinikova, 1990 (Antarctic sculpins)
 * Superfamily Cyclopteroidea Gill, 1873
 * Family Cyclopteridae Bonaparte, 1831 (lumpfishes or lumpsuckers)
 * Family Liparidae Gill, 1861 (Snailfishes)