Aracanidae was first proposed as a family in 1860 by the Swiss-born French biologist Henri Louis Gabriel Marc Hollard.

[2] The 5th edition of Fishes of the World classifies this clade as the suborder Ostracioidea within the order Tetraodontiformes.

[6] Aracanidae boxfishes are oval to round in shape and which is almost completely covered in bony arour created by thickened plate-like scales.

[7] The temperate boxfishes vary in size from a maximum published standard length of 10.4 cm (4.1 in) in the case of Kentrocapros spilonota up to a maximum published total length 37 cm (15 in) in the case of the Eastern smooth boxfish (Anoplocapros inermis).

[9] Aracanidae has a fossil record consisting of a single species, Proaracana dubia, from the Eocene of Monte Bolca in Italy.