Enchodontidae

Enchodontidae Temporal range: Albian–Maastrichtian PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
Skull of Enchodus lewesiensis
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Actinopterygii
Order:	Aulopiformes
Suborder:	†Enchodontoidei
Family:	†Enchodontidae Woodward, 1901
Genera
See text

Enchodontidae is an extinct family of aulopiform ray-finned fish known from the mid-late Cretaceous (Albian to Maastrichtian). It contains two subfamilies with several genera, including the famous Enchodus, with great morphological disparity among members of the group.^[1][2][3][4]

They were active and fast predatory aulopiforms that were important members of the Cretaceous marine food webs, with fossil remains known from the gut contents of diverse predators such as larger fish, cephalopods, and plesiosaurs.^[2]

Taxonomy

The following taxa are known:^[2]

• Family Enchodontidae
  • ?Genus †Rharbichthys
  • Genus †Palaeolycus
  • Genus †Unicachichthys^[5]
  • Genus †Veridagon
  • Subfamily †Eurypholinae
    • Genus †Eurypholis
    • Genus †Saurorhamphus
    • Genus †Vegrandichthys
  • Subfamily †Enchodontinae
    • Genus †Calypsoichthys^[6]
    • Genus †Enchodus
    • Genus †Parenchodus

Several other genera, such as Leptecodon, Cimolichthys, Pantopholis, and Aspidopleurus have sometimes been classified in this family in other taxonomic treatments.^[5]

References

1. "PBDB". paleobiodb.org. Retrieved 2024-01-14.
2. Díaz-Cruz, Jesús Alberto; Alvarado-Ortega, Jesús; Giles, Sam (June 2020). "A long snout enchodontid fish (Aulopiformes: Enchodontidae) from the Early Cretaceous deposits at the El Chango quarry, Chiapas, southeastern Mexico: A multi-approach study". Palaeontologia Electronica. 23 (2). doi:10.26879/1065.
3. Díaz-Cruz, Jesús Alberto; Alvarado-Ortega, Jesús; Ramírez-Sánchez, Marcia M.; Bernard, Emma Louise; Allington-Jones, Lu; Graham, Mark (2021-11-01). "Phylogenetic morphometrics, geometric morphometrics and the Mexican fossils to understand evolutionary trends of enchodontid fishes". Journal of South American Earth Sciences. 111: 103492. Bibcode:2021JSAES.11103492D. doi:10.1016/j.jsames.2021.103492. ISSN 0895-9811.
4. Davis, Matthew P.; Fielitz, Christopher (2010-12-01). "Estimating divergence times of lizardfishes and their allies (Euteleostei: Aulopiformes) and the timing of deep-sea adaptations". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 57 (3): 1194–1208. Bibcode:2010MolPE..57.1194D. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2010.09.003. ISSN 1055-7903. PMID 20854916.
5. Díaz-Cruz, Jesús Alberto; Alvarado-Ortega, Jesús; Carbot-Chanona, Gerardo (2016-06-01). "The Cenomanian short snout enchodontid fishes (Aulopifomes, Enchodontidae) from Sierra Madre Formation, Chiapas, southeastern Mexico". Cretaceous Research. 61: 136–150. Bibcode:2016CrRes..61..136D. doi:10.1016/j.cretres.2015.12.026. ISSN 0195-6671.
6. Argyriou, Thodoris; Alexopoulos, Apostolos; Carrillo-Briceño, Jorge D.; Cavin, Lionel (2022-04-13). "A fossil assemblage from the mid–late Maastrichtian of Gavdos Island, Greece, provides insights into the pre-extinction pelagic ichthyofaunas of the Tethys". PLOS ONE. 17 (4): e0265780. Bibcode:2022PLoSO..1765780A. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0265780. ISSN 1932-6203. PMC 9007369. PMID 35417474.