The Beardfish reference article from the English Wikipedia on 24-Jul-2004 (provided by Fixed Reference: snapshots of Wikipedia from wikipedia.org)

Beardfish

Beardfishes
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Actinopterygii Order: Polymixiiformes Family: Polymixiidae
Genera
Polymixia Berycopsis (extinct) Dalmatichthys (extinct) Omosoma (extinct) Omosomopsis (extinct)

The beardfishes are a small family (Polymixiidae) of deep-sea marine ray-finned fish named for their pair of long hyoid barbels.

About five species of the one living genus Polymixia are known, along with several fossil genera.

At present they are classified in their own order Polymixiiformes, but as Nelson says in Fishes of the World, "few groups have been shifted back and forth as frequently as this one". Previous groupings include Beryciformes.

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