see text The Centriscidae are a family of fishes from the order Syngnathiformes which includes the snipefishes, shrimpfishes, and bellowfishes.

[2] A small family, consisting of only about a dozen marine species, they are of an unusual appearance, as reflected by their common names.

They have extremely compressed, razor-like bodies which have a sharp ventral edge and a dorsal surface which is nearly straight in profile ending in a long snout which has a tiny mouth with pincer-like jaws which lack teeth.

The body is almost completely covered in thin, translucent bony plates which are created by expansion of its vertebrae.

[4] The placement of the genus Centriscops is unclear: ITIS places it in Macroramphosidae, as does the 5th edition of Nelson (2016).