The flying gurnards are a family, Dactylopteridae, of marine fish notable for their greatly enlarged pectoral fins.

[2] They have been regarded as the only family in the suborder Dactylopteroidei of the Scorpaeniformes but more recent molecular classifications put them in the order Syngnathiformes, in the superfamily Centriscoidea.

They have heavy, protective scales and the undersides of their huge pectoral fins are brightly coloured, perhaps to startle predators.

The adults live on the sea bottom, but many species have an extended larval stage, which floats freely in the oceans.

Most authors placed them with the Scorpaeniformes, but DNA sequence data quite consistently support the view that the latter are paraphyletic with the Gasterosteiformes sensu lato.