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Family of fishes
the United States Navy submarine

Hemiramphidae is a family of fishes that are commonly called halfbeaks, spipe fish or spipefish. They are a geographically widespread and numerically abundant family of epipelagic fish inhabiting warm waters around the world. The halfbeaks are named for their distinctive jaws, in which the lower jaws are significantly longer than the upper jaws. The similar viviparous halfbeaks (family Zenarchopteridae) have often been included in this family. Though not commercially important themselves, these forage fish support artisanal fisheries and local markets worldwide. They are also fed upon by other commercially important predatory fishes, such as billfishes, mackerels, and sharks.

The halfbeaks' fossil record extends into the Lower Tertiary. Apart from differences in the length of the upper and lower jaws, recent and fossil halfbeaks are distinguished by the fusion of the third pair of upper pharyngeal bones into a plate. Traditionally, these four families have been taken to together comprise the order Beloniformes. On the other hand, recent studies have demonstrated that rather than forming a single monophyletic group (a clade), the halfbeak family actually includes a number of lineages ancestral to the flyingfishes and the needlefishes. In other words, as traditionally defined, the halfbeak family is paraphyletic.

The halfbeaks are elongate, streamlined fish adapted to living in open water. Halfbeaks can grow to over SL in the case of Euleptorhampus viridis. The scales are relatively large, cycloid (smooth), and easily detached. There are no spines in the fins.

Halfbeaks inhabit warm seas, predominantly at the surface, in the Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific oceans. For some subtropical species at least, juveniles are more predatory than adults. Some tropical species feed on animals during the day and plants at night, while other species alternate between carnivory in the summer and herbivory in the winter. They are in turn eaten by many ecologically and commercially important fish, such as billfish, mackerel, and sharks, and so are a key link between trophic levels.

Marine halfbeaks are typically pelagic schooling forage fish.

Hemiramphidae species are all external fertilizers. The eggs of Hemiramphus brasiliensis and H. balao are typically in diameter and have attaching filaments. They hatch when they grow to about in diameter. and the eastern sea garfish (Hyporhamphus australis). Halfbeaks are caught by a variety of methods including seines and pelagic trawls, dip netting under lights at night, and with haul nets. In some localities significant bait fisheries exist to supply sport fishermen.