Microdesmidae

{{Short description|Family of fishes}}

{{Automatic taxobox

| image = Nemateleotris magnifica.jpg

| image_caption = Nemateleotris magnifica

| taxon = Microdesmidae

| authority = Regan, 1912

| subdivision_ranks = Subfamilies and genera

| subdivision =

Subfamily Ptereleotrinae

• Aioliops
• Navigobius
• Nemateleotris
• Oxymetopon
• Parioglossus
• Ptereleotris
• Pterocerdale
• Zagadkogobius Prokofiev, A.M. (2017): [https://link.springer.com/article/10.1134%2FS003294521701009X New Genus of Ptereleotrinae (Gobioidei) from the South China Sea.] Journal of Ichthyology, 57 (1): 158–160.

Subfamily Microdesminae

• Cerdale
• Clarkichthys
• Gunnellichthys
• Microdesmus
• Paragunnellichthys

}}

{{more citations needed|date=September 2014}}

The Microdesmidae, the wormfishes and dartfishes, were a family of goby-like fishes in the order Gobiiformes, more recent workers have placed this taxon within the Gobiidae, although the researchers do not define the taxonomic status of this grouping within that family.{{cite book |title=Fishes of the World |edition=5th |author1=J. S. Nelson |author2=T. C. Grande |author3=M. V. H. Wilson |year=2016 |pages=752 |publisher=Wiley |isbn= 978-1-118-34233-6 |url=https://sites.google.com/site/fotw5th/ }} Two subfamilies in this family were briefly treated as full families - the Ptereleotrinae (dartfishes) and Microdesminae (wormfishes).{{FishBase family | family = Microdesmidae | month = December| year = 2013}} The family includes about 82 species.

They are found in shallow tropical waters, both marine and brackish, often burrowing in estuarine mud. They are small fish, the largest species reaching only about 12 cm in length.