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Enchelion

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Extinct genus of fishes

Enchelion
Temporal range: Upper Cenomanian PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N ↓
Fossil specimen
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Anguilliformes (?)
Family: †Encheliidae
Hay, 1903
Genus: †Enchelion
Hay, 1903
Species: †E. montium
Binomial name
†Enchelion montium
Hay, 1903

Enchelion (Greek for "little eel") is an extinct genus of prehistoric marine ray-finned fish that lived during the Late Cretaceous. It contains a single species, E. montium known from the upper Cenomanian of the Haqel locality of the Sannine Formation in Lebanon. It is the only member of the family Encheliidae.

Specimen of Enchelion sp.
Specimen with Eurypholis

It has a small but extremely elongate appearance reminiscent of an eel, but its taxonomic affinities are uncertain, making it hard to classify. It has a unique diplospondylous (two vertebrae in each segment) vertebral column that is unseen in any modern teleost fish aside from the contemporaneous, enigmatic freshwater Diplospondichthys from the Kem Kem Beds in Morocco. Uniquely, it also has no evidence of fins or fin rays, a trait shared with Diplospondichthys; however, these two genera differ in jaw morphology. Some authors have suggested it may represent the earliest known representative of the Saccopharyngoidei, but this is disputed.

See also

References

  1. ^ Sepkoski, Jack (2002). "A compendium of fossil marine animal genera". Bulletins of American Paleontology. 363: 1–560. Archived from the original on 2011-07-23. Retrieved 2009-02-27.
  2. ^ Hay, Oliver Perry (1903). On Certain Genera and Species of North American Cretaceous Actinopterous Fishes. order of the Trustees, American Museum of Natural History.
  3. Laan, Richard van der (2018-10-11). "Family-group names of fossil fishes". European Journal of Taxonomy (466). doi:10.5852/ejt.2018.466. ISSN 2118-9773.
  4. Filleul, Arnaud; Dutheil, Didier B. (2004-06-11). "A peculiar diplospondylous actinopterygian fish from the Cretaceous of Morocco". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 24 (2): 290–298. Bibcode:2004JVPal..24..290F. doi:10.1671/3004. ISSN 0272-4634.
  5. Espíndola, Vinícius Corrêa (2019-08-28). Phylogenetic relationship of the Anguilliformes (Teleostei: Elopomorpha) with an emphasis in cephalic morphology (text thesis). Universidade de São Paulo.
  6. Belouze, Anne (2002). "Compréhension morphologique et phylogénétique des taxons actuels et fossiles rapportés aux anguilliformes («poissons», téléostéens)". Travaux et Documents des Laboratoires de Géologie de Lyon. 158 (1): 3–401.
  7. Belouze, Anne; Gayet, Mireille; Atallah, Claude (2003-07-01). "Les premiers Anguilliformes : II. Paraphylie du genre Urenchelys WOODWARD, 1900 et relations phylogénétiques". Geobios. 36 (4): 351–378. Bibcode:2003Geobi..36..351B. doi:10.1016/S0016-6995(03)00036-6. ISSN 0016-6995.
  8. Pfaff, Cathrin; Zorzin, Roberto; Kriwet, Jürgen (2016-08-11). "Evolution of the locomotory system in eels (Teleostei: Elopomorpha)". BMC Evolutionary Biology. 16 (1): 159. Bibcode:2016BMCEE..16..159P. doi:10.1186/s12862-016-0728-7. ISSN 1471-2148. PMC 4981956. PMID 27514517.
Taxon identifiers
Enchelion
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