What kinds of habitats are used by osmeriform fishes?

Osmeriform fishes, which belong to the order Osmeriformes, inhabit a diverse range of environments across all the world's oceans and various freshwater systems. Their habitats can be categorized as follows:12

• Marine Environments: A significant portion of osmeriforms, including many species within the suborder Argentinoidei, are entirely marine and typically inhabit middepth and deep-sea regions worldwide.12
• Freshwater and Coastal Waters: Some families, such as the Osmeridae (smelts) and Salangidae, include species that are permanent freshwater inhabitants or are found in coastal freshwater environments in the Northern Hemisphere.12
• Anadromous and Catadromous Habitats: Many osmeriforms exhibit migratory life cycles, moving between marine and freshwater environments. This includes anadromous species that spawn in fresh water but mature in the sea, as well as catadromous species—such as certain members of the Galaxiidae family—that spawn in marine environments and migrate to fresh water to mature.132
• Southern Hemisphere Freshwater: In the Southern Hemisphere, osmeriform fishes (superfamily Galaxioidea) are found in the freshwater environments of southern Africa, South America, Australia, New Zealand, and Tasmania.12