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The fishes currently recognized as members of the order Gasterosteiformes (sticklebacks, pipefishes, and their relatives) number 278 species, classified into two suborders (Gasterosteoidei and Syngnathoidei), 11 families and 71 genera. Members of this group exhibit unique appearances, many of which are derived from armored bodies with bony plates in various forms. Although recent molecular phylogenetic studies have repeatedly questioned the monophyly of this order, none of the studies examined all of the representative families and the phylogenetic reality of the group has remained unclear. In this study, we examined whole mitochondrial genome (mitogenome) sequences from 13 gasterosteiform species representing all 11 families in the order, and subjected them to partitioned maximum likelihood and Bayesian analyses, with additional data from other percomorphs and outgroups (75 mitogenome …