Needlefish (
family Belonidae) or
Long Tom are
piscivorous fishes primarily associated with very shallow marine habitats or the surface of the open sea. Some genera include species found in marine,
brackish, and freshwater environments (e.g.,
Strongylura) while a few genera are confined to freshwater rivers and streams, including
Belonion,
Potamorrhaphis, and
Xenentodon. Needlefish closely resemble North American freshwater
gars (family
Lepisosteidae) in being elongated and having long, narrow jaws filled with sharp teeth, and some species of needlefishes are referred to as gars or garfish despite being only distantly related to the true gars. In fact, the name "
garfish" was originally used for the needlefish
Belone belone in Europe and only later applied to the North American fishes by European settlers during the 18th century.