environments, and one of the freshwater species, Xenentodon cancila from Southeast Asia, is occasionally kept as an aquarium fish. It is a relatively small species, no more than 40 cm in length when fully grown, but is considered to be a rather delicate fish best suited to advanced aquarists. Taxonomy The needlefish family is classified within the order Beloniformes and along with the sauries of the family Scomberesocidae they make up the superfamily Scomberesocoidea and in turn, is one of two superfamilies in the suborder Exocoetoidei which comprises all of the Beloniformes except for the ricefishes of the family Adrianichthydae. Workers have concluded that the genus Belone is the sister group to the sauries and that if this is correct them the Belonidae is only monophyletic if the sauries are included within it. References External links Annotated Checklist of Fishes: Belonidae FishBase entry on Belonidae World Sea Fishing article on the North Atlantic gar, Belone belone. (link is broken) Belonidae Fish of Hawaii Beloniformes Taxa named by Charles Lucien Bonaparte