Editing Esocoidei (section)

{{Short description|Order of ray-finned fishes}}
{{Automatic taxobox
| fossil_range = {{fossil range|Campanian|present}}
| image = Esox lucius1.jpg
| image_caption = [[Northern pike]] (''Esox lucius'')
| taxon = Esocoidei
| authority = [[Pieter Bleeker|Bleeker]], 1859
| subdivision_ranks = Families
| subdivision = * [[Esocidae]]<br/> {{small|[[Georges Cuvier|G. Cuvier]], 1817}}
* [[Umbridae]]<br/> {{small|Bonaparte, 1845}}
| synonyms = * Esociformes {{small|Bleeker, 1859}}
* Haplomi
* Esocae
* Umbriformes<br/> {{small|Günther, 1866}}
| type_species = ''[[Northern pike|Esox lucius]]''
| type_species_authority = [[Carl Linnaeus|Linnaeus]], [[10th edition of Systema Naturae|1758]]
}}

The '''Esocoidei''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|iː|s|ɒ|s|ᵻ|f|ɔːr|m|iː|z}}) is a small [[suborder]] of freshwater [[Actinopterygii|ray-finned fish]], one of two suborders in the order [[Salmoniformes]]. It contains two families, [[Umbridae]] and [[Esocidae]].<ref name=":1322">{{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><ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qOLODwAAQBAJ&dq=Esociforms+freshwater+Umbridae+Esocidae&pg=PA487 | title=Fishes of Arkansas | isbn=978-1-68226-103-3 | last1=Robison | first1=Henry W. | last2=Buchanan | first2=Thomas M. | date=11 March 2020 | publisher=University of Arkansas Press }}</ref> The pikes of genus ''[[Esox]]'' give the order its name.

This order is closely related to the [[Salmonidae|Salmonoidei]], the two comprising the order Salmoniformes.<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal |last=Near |first=Thomas J. |last2=Thacker |first2=Christine E. |date=2024-04-18 |title=Phylogenetic Classification of Living and Fossil Ray-Finned Fishes (Actinopterygii) |url=https://bioone.org/journals/bulletin-of-the-peabody-museum-of-natural-history/volume-65/issue-1/014.065.0101/Phylogenetic-Classification-of-Living-and-Fossil-Ray-Finned-Fishes-Actinopterygii/10.3374/014.065.0101.full |journal=Bulletin of the Peabody Museum of Natural History |volume=65 |issue=1 |doi=10.3374/014.065.0101 |issn=0079-032X}}</ref> The esociform fishes first appeared in the late [[Cretaceous]] — early products of the [[Euteleost|Euteleostei]] radiation of that time.<ref name=":2">{{Cite journal |last=Wilson |first=Mark V. H. |last2=Brinkman |first2=Donald B. |last3=Neuman |first3=Andrew G. |date=1992 |title=Cretaceous Esocoidei (Teleostei): early radiation of the pikes in North American fresh waters |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-paleontology/article/abs/cretaceous-esocoidei-teleostei-early-radiation-of-the-pikes-in-north-american-fresh-waters/1886085B088AD3F7381EF8047E0A3835 |journal=Journal of Paleontology |language=en |volume=66 |issue=5 |pages=839–846 |doi=10.1017/S0022336000020849 |issn=0022-3360|url-access=subscription }}</ref> They diverged from their sister group [[Salmonidae|Salmoniformes]] about 110 million years ago, with the extant species having evolved from a common ancestor that lived about 90 million years ago.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Pan |first1=Qiaowei |last2=Feron |first2=Romain |last3=Jouanno |first3=Elodie |last4=Darras |first4=Hugo |last5=Herpin |first5=Amaury |last6=Koop |first6=Ben |last7=Rondeau |first7=Eric |last8=Goetz |first8=Frederick W. |last9=Larson |first9=Wesley A. |last10=Bernatchez |first10=Louis |last11=Tringali |first11=Mike |last12=Curran |first12=Stephen S. |last13=Saillant |first13=Eric |last14=Denys |first14=Gael Pj |last15=von Hippel |first15=Frank A. |date=2021 |title=The rise and fall of the ancient northern pike master sex-determining gene |journal=eLife |volume=10 |pages=e62858 |doi=10.7554/eLife.62858 |doi-access=free |pmc=7870143 |pmid=33506762}}</ref> Today, they are found in weed-choked freshwater habitats in [[North America]] and northern [[Eurasia]].