stylistic:tone, linguistic:voice_change
Evolution

Phylogenetic evidence alternatively places galaxiids within the Protacanthopterygii, or more recently as the sister group to the Neoteleostei. Their ancestors are thought to have diverged from the neoteleosts around the Triassic - Jurassic boundary.

The earliest definitive fossils of galaxiids are from the Miocene of New Zealand, which can be placed in the extant genus Galaxias. This young fossil range contrasts with the presumed ancient origins of the group. In 1998, a possible Late Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) galaxiid from South Africa was described as Stompooria. However, later studies have questioned this assignment, as Stompooria differs from galaxiids in many morphological traits, especially in the presence of scales, although it being an ancestral galaxiid that had not yet developed galaxiid traits could not be ruled out. Other taxonomic treatments have instead placed Stompooria as part of an extinct clade sister to the Esociformes and Salmoniformes.