Gobiiformes

Gobiiformes, meaning goby-like, is an order of percomorph fishes that contains three suborders: Apogonoidei, Trichonotoidei and Gobioidei. The order was once defined to hold only the gobies, which now sit within the Gobioidei, but more recent taxonomic treatments also place their close relatives, the cardinalfishes, nurseryfishes and sand-divers, with them after phylogenetic studies unexpectedly found these groups closely related. Despite the differing appearances of its members, all share adhesive eggs with elaborate structures, and many species also show elaborate parental care by the male. Gobiiforms are a relatively basal clade of the percomorphs, estimated to have diverged from the rest of the group during the early-to-mid Cretaceous, about 120 million years ago. Families placed in the order in Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes include Gobiidae, Oxudercidae, Eleotridae, Butidae and Apogonidae.