See text The Enchodontoidei are an extinct superorder of aulopiform fish known from the Early Cretaceous to the Eocene.

[1] They were among the dominant predatory marine fish groups in the Late Cretaceous, achieving a worldwide distribution.

[3][4] Some remains of Enchodus have also been recovered from the Paleocene and Eocene, although this may just represent reworked material.

[5][6][7] Although initially classified among Stomiiformes and then the Salmoniformes in the mid-20th century, studies since the 1970s have found them to be deeply nested among the lizardfishes and lancetfishes in the order Aulopiformes.

Their taxonomy is disputed, with some studies finding the group to be polyphyletic with its members scattered among the Aulopiformes, although most recent studies have recovered the group as monophyletic, based on the synapomorphy of maxilla included in the gape of the mouth.