Enchodontidae
| Enchodontidae | ||||||||||||
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Enchodus , artistic reconstruction of life. |
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| Temporal occurrence | ||||||||||||
| Aptian (Lower Cretaceous) to Eocene | ||||||||||||
| 126.3 to 33.9 million years | ||||||||||||
| Locations | ||||||||||||
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Enchodontidae | ||||||||||||
| Woodward , 1901 | ||||||||||||
The Enchodontidae are an extinct fish family from the order of the lizard fish relatives (Aulopiformes), which occurred in all seas from the Lower Cretaceous to the Eocene. They were very successful medium-sized predatory fish (20 - 45 cm), which are often represented in great numbers in the fossil record. B. in the Smoky Hill Chalk , a part of the Niobrara Formation, make up about 30% of the ray-fin fossils.
features
The Enchodontidae had a slender, moderately or strongly elongated, in some cases ( Palaeolycus ) almost eel-like body. They differ from all other recent and extinct lizardfish relatives in having a single large palatal tooth and large fangs in the jaws that are twice as long as the next largest teeth.
Systematics
The Enchodontidae are now assigned to the Aulopiformes (lizard fish relatives ) after they were already combined with the lantern fish (Myctophidae) in a suborder Myctophoidei, or were assigned to the salmon-like (Salmoniformes).
Genera
So far, 5 genera have been described, of which Enchodus alone contains around 20 species.
literature
- Christopher Fielitz: The phylogenetic relationships of the † Enchodontidae (Teleostei: Aulopiformes). PDF in G. Arratia, MVH Wilson & R. Cloutier: Recent Advances in the Origin and Early Radiation of Vertebrates. 2004 by Verlag Dr. Friedrich Pfeil, Munich, Germany - ISBN 3-89937-052-X .
- Karl Albert Frickhinger: Fossils Atlas Fish , Mergus-Verlag, Melle, 1999, ISBN 3-88244-018-X .
- Joseph S. Nelson : Fishes of the World . John Wiley & Sons, 2006, ISBN 0-471-25031-7 .
