Enchodus ‭(‬also known as‭ ‘‬the sabre-toothed herring‭’)

En-coe-dus.
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Emily Green

Paleobotanist

Emily Green brings the ancient world of plants to life through her insightful research and engaging writing. Her expertise lies in examining how prehistoric vegetation influenced climate patterns and animal evolution.

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Name

Enchodus ‭(‬Spear tooth‭).

Phonetic

En-coe-dus.

Named By

Classification

Chordata,‭ ‬Actinopterygii,‭ ‬Neopterygii,‭ ‬Salmoniformes,‭ ‬Enchodontoidei,‭ ‬Enchodontidae.

Diet

Carnivore/Piscivore.

Species

Size

1.5‭ ‬meters long,‭ ‬fangs can reach to over six centimetres long on the largest species,‭ ‬E.‭ ‬petrosus.‭ ‬Other species smaller,‭ ‬as much as just a few centimetres long.

Known locations

Worldwide.

Time Period

Late Cretaceous through to the Eocene.

Fossil representation

Huge number of fossils.‭ ‬Usually the teeth are the most common fossils,‭ ‬but skulls and partial post cranial remains are also known.

In Depth

Further Reading

– Review of the Vertebrata of the Cretaceous period found west of the Mississippi River – Edward Drinker Cope – 1874. – Vert�br�s fossiles du bassin du Niger [Fossil vertebrates of the Niger basin] – C. Arambourg & L. Joleaud – 1943. – A check list of North American Marine Cretaceous vertebrates including fresh water fishes – D. A. Russel – 1988. – Fossil fishes from the Cenomanian (Upper Cretaceous) of Namoura, Lebanon. – P. L. Forey, L. Yi, C. Patterson & C. E. Davis – 2003. – A New Species of Enchodus (Aulopiformes: Enchodontidae) from the Cretaceous (Albian to Cenomanian) of Zimap�n, Hidalgo, M�xico – C. Fielitz & K. A. Gonzalez-Rodriguez – 2010. – A new species of the neopterygian fish Enchodus from the Duwi Formation, Campanian, Late Cretaceous, Western Desert, central Egypt. – Acta Palaeontologica Polonica. 62 (3): 603–611. – Waymon L. Holloway, Kerin M. Claeson, Hesham M. Sallam, Sanaa El-Sayed, Mahmoud Kora, Joseph J.W. Sertich & Patrick M. O’Connor – 2017.

SPECIES SPOTLIGHT