Chanidae (milkfish) Gonorynchidae (beaked salmons) Kneriidae (shellears) Phractolaemidae (hingemouths) The Gonorynchiformes /ɡɒnəˈrɪŋkɪfɔːrmiːz/ are an order of ray-finned fish that includes the important food source, the milkfish (Chanos chanos, family Chanidae), and a number of lesser-known types, both marine and freshwater.

They are characterized by a primitive Weberian apparatus formed by the first three vertebrae and one or more cephalic ribs within the head.

This apparatus is believed to be a hearing organ, and is found in a more advanced and complex form in the related cypriniform fish, such as carp.

[2] Also like the cypriniforms, the gonorynchiforms produce a substance from their skin when injured that dissolves into the water and acts an alarm signal to other fish.

Gonorynchus Chanos Phractolaemus Kneria Parakneria Cromeria Grasseichthys The 5th edition of Fishes of the World classifies the extant taxa in this order as follows, as does Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes:[6][7][8] Order Gonorynchiformes Greenwood, Rosen, Weitzman, and Myers, 1966