The beardfishes consist of a single extant genus, Polymixia, of deep-sea marine ray-finned fish named for their pair of long hyoid barbels.

[2] For instance, they have previously been classified as belonging to the Beryciformes, and are presently considered either paracanthopterygians or the sister group to acanthopterygians.

[3] They are found in tropical and subtropical waters of the Atlantic, Indian and western Pacific Ocean.

[4] However, tentative earlier records are known from distinctive fossil otoliths from the Early Cretaceous (Albian) of Texas, USA.

[5] Many different fossil families and genera are known from the Late Cretaceous and early Cenozoic, in contrast to the relatively few surviving species in a single genus.