Acestrorhynchidae is a family of freshwater fish in the order Characiformes, found in South America. Members of this family are known as freshwater barracudas (not to be confused with the unrelated true barracudas of the Sphyraenidae) and biting tetras.
Until recently, this family contained only the genus Acestrorhynchus. However, taxonomic studies have found that the subfamilies Heterocharacinae (originally placed in the closely related Characidae) and Roestinae (originally placed in the more distantly related Cynodontidae) are actually more closely related to Acestrorhynchus, and now they are also placed in this family.
The family is classified as follows:
Family Acestrorhynchidae Subfamily Acestrorhynchinae C. H. Eigenmann, 1912 (freshwater barracudas) Genus Acestrorhynchus C. H. Eigenmann & C. H. Kennedy, 1903 Subfamily Roestinae Lucena & Menezes, 1998 (biting tetras) Genus Gilbertolus C. H. Eigenmann, 1907 Genus Roestes Günther, 1864 Subfamily Heterocharacinae Géry, 1966 (small biting tetras) Genus Gnathocharax Fowler, 1913 Genus Heterocharax C. H. Eigenmann, 1912 Genus Hoplocharax Géry, 1966 Genus Lonchogenys Myers, 1927
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