Champsocephalus is a genus of marine ray-finned fish belonging to the family Channichthyidae, the crocodile icefishes.

Champsocephalus was first formally described as a genus in 1862 by the American ichthyologist Theodore Nicholas Gill as he thought that its type species, Chaenichthys esox which had been described in 1861 by Albert Günther, was distinct enough to be classified in its own genus.

[1] The genus name is a compound of champsos meaning "crocodile" and cephalos which means "head", Gill did not explain the allusion but it is thought to be a reference to the clearly predatory snout, like a crocodile's.

They have two lateral lines, upper and middle, and these have no bony plates.

[4] Chamsocephalus icefishes are predatory and are known to feed on krill, mysids and fishes.