What is "thornfish"

n. 1 A group of fish in the ''Perciformes'' order, the ''(taxlink Bovichtidae family noshow=1)'' family. 2 A dragonet, any of the small perciform marine fish of the family ''(taxlink Callionymidae family noshow=1)''. 3 A jarbua terapon.

The thornfishes are a family, Bovichtidae, of fishes in the order Perciformes. The family is spelled Bovichthyidae in J. S. Nelson's Fishes of the World. They are native to coastal waters off Australia, New Zealand, and South America, and to rivers and lakes of southeast Australia and Tasmania.

Phylogenetic analysis of morphological characters has revealed that the family Bovichtidae is not a monophyletic group.