Members of the family Iridoviridae, collectively referred to as iridovirids, are large, double-stranded DNA-containing viruses that infect invertebrates and cold-blooded (ectothermic) vertebrates. Infections in the former often lead to massive levels of virus replication resulting in iridescence of the infected animal and ultimately death. Among the latter, infections target a variety of organs and are capable of causing high levels of morbidity and mortality among commercially and ecologically important fish and amphibian species. The viral replication strategy has been elucidated primarily through the study of frog virus 3 (FV3) with additional input from other iridovirids of ecological or commercial importance. Replication occurs within both nuclear and cytoplasmic compartments and involves synthesis of genome length and concatemeric DNA, extensive methylation of the viral genome (among vertebrate viruses only), coordinate expression of three classes of viral gene products, and formation of icosahedral virions within cytoplasmic viral assembly sites. Phylogenetic analyses delineate five genera within the family and suggest that members of the families Iridoviridae, Ascoviridae, and Marseilleviridae compromise a monophyletic lineage in which ascoviruses are most closely related to invertebrate iridoviruses.

Iridoviridae家族的成员，通常被称为iridovirids的是大型的，含有双链DNA的病毒，它们会感染无脊椎动物和冷血（外温）脊椎动物。前者的感染通常会导致大量病毒复制，从而导致被感染动物虹彩并最终导致死亡。在后者中，感染的目标是各种器官，并且能够在商业和生态上重要的鱼类和两栖动物中引起高水平的发病率和死亡率。主要通过对青蛙病毒3（FV3）的研究以及其他具有生态或商业重要性的iridovirids的额外投入，阐明了病毒复制策略。复制发生在核和细胞质区室中，并且涉及基因组长度和连接体DNA的合成，病毒基因组的广泛甲基化（仅在脊椎动物病毒中），协调三类病毒基因产物的表达，并在胞质病毒装配位点形成二十面体病毒体。系统发育分析描述了该家族中的五个属，并建议该家族的成员Iridoviridae，Ascoviridae和Marseilleviridae折衷了一种单系谱系，在该谱系中，cocovirus病毒与无脊椎动物iridoviruss关系最密切。