See text Trichodontidae, the sandfishes, is a small family of ray-finned fishes from the order Perciformes.

[1] For a long time the family was thought to be classified within the order Trachiniformes but in 2000 the family was reclassified by the Russian biologists Mikhail Nazarkin and Olga Voskoboinikova the monotypic superfamily Trichodontoidea in the suborder Cottoidei of the order Scorpaeniformes.

They have a large oblique, upward pointing mouth which has 2 or 3 rows of small sharp teeth on the jaws and vomer.

There is a single pair of tube-like nostrils and these fishes have no scales although the lateral line canal is well-developed and is situated high on the body parallel and near the base of the dorsal fin.

During the day they rest partially buried in the substrate with only the highest parts of the fish visible.