Editing Cetomimoidea (section)

{{Short description|Order of ray-finned fishes}}
{{Automatic taxobox
| name = Whalefishes
| fossil_range = {{fossil range|Early Eocene|recent}}
| image = flabby whalefish.jpg
| image_caption = ''[[Barbourisiidae|Barbourisia rufa]]''
| classification_status = disputed
| taxon = Cetomimoidea
| authority = Nelson, 1994
| subdivision_ranks = Families
| subdivision = [[Barbourisiidae]]<br/>
[[Cetomimidae]]<br/>
[[Rondeletiidae]]
}}

The '''Cetomimoidea''' or '''whalefishes''' are a [[Superfamily (biology)|superfamily]] of small, deep-sea [[ray-finned fish]]. Formerly treated as either their own order ('''Cetomimiformes''') due to their unusual anatomy,<ref>E.g. Nelson (2006)</ref> more recent studies incorporating genetic data confirm them to be deeply nested within the [[Beryciformes]] as a clade within [[Stephanoberycoidei]] (which was formerly also treated as its own order).<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |last=Fricke |first=R. |last2=Eschmeyer |first2=W. N. |last3=Van der Laan |first3=R. |date=2025 |title=ESCHMEYER'S CATALOG OF FISHES: CLASSIFICATION |url=https://www.calacademy.org/eschmeyers-catalog-of-fishes-classification |access-date=2025-02-10 |website=California Academy of Sciences |language=en}}</ref> They are thus better treated as their own superfamily, Cetomimoidea.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Kobyliansky |first=S. G. |last2=Gordeeva |first2=N. V. |last3=Kotlyar |first3=A. N. |date=2020-01-01 |title=New Findings of the Rare Species Rondeletia bicolor (Stephanoberycoidei) Over the Mid-Atlantic Ridge and Some Peculiarities of the Rondeletiidae Family’s Phylologeny |url=https://link.springer.com/article/10.1134/S0032945220010075 |journal=Journal of Ichthyology |language=en |volume=60 |issue=1 |pages=13–21 |doi=10.1134/S0032945220010075 |issn=1555-6425|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Mincarone |first=M. M. |last2=Di Dario |first2=F. |last3=Costa |first3=P. a. S. |date=2014 |title=Deep-sea bigscales, pricklefishes, gibberfishes and whalefishes (Teleostei: Stephanoberycoidei) off Brazil: new records, range extensions for the south-western Atlantic Ocean and remarks on the taxonomy of Poromitra |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jfb.12515 |journal=Journal of Fish Biology |language=en |volume=85 |issue=5 |pages=1546–1570 |doi=10.1111/jfb.12515 |issn=1095-8649|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

Within this group are five families and approximately 18 genera and 32 species (but see below). Thought to have a circumglobal distribution throughout the tropical and temperate [[latitude]]s, whalefishes have been recorded at depths in excess of 3,500 metres.