Why swordfish aren't put in the same family as Marlins? Why Swordfish (Xiphias gladius), which are very similar to Marlins, do not belong to the same family as Marlin - Istiophoridae? Both has long bill or a sword in the upper jaw, both has (at least in some stage of life) a long sail along the back, both are predators and fast swimmers and both are of similar overall shape and size. ]( Moreover, as cladistics is prevailing over Linnean taxonomy, the ranks of family or superfamily are not essentially different, can we say that swordfish and marlins belong to the same clade which includes the two families Xiphiidae and Istiophoridae?

> Why Swordfish (Xiphias gladius), which are very similar to Marlins, do not belong to the same family as Marlin - _Istiophoridae_?

The decision about what we call an order vs a family is very subjective. Someone decided that _Istiophoriformes_ was an order containing the families _Xiphiidae_ and _Istiophoridae_ but someone else could have decided to call _Istiophoriformes_ a family (although the name would have ended in -idae, then) and _Xiphiidae_ and _Istiophoridae_ subfamilies.

> [C]an we say that swordfish and marlins belong to the same clade which includes the two families _Xiphiidae_ and _Istiophoridae_ [?]

Yes, you can. This clade is the order of _Istiophoriformes_. You can hence say that swordfish and marlins are both _Istiophoriformes_. Or if you prefer, you can say that swordfish and marlins both belong to the order of _Istiophoriformes_.