Anaethalion

{{Short description|Extinct genus of fishes}}

{{Italic title}}

{{Automatic taxobox

| fossil_range = {{fossilrange|Kimmeridgian|Albian}}

| image = Anaethalion knorri, Eichstatt, Germany, Late Jurassic - Royal Ontario Museum - DSC00045.JPG

| image_caption = Anaethalion knorri

| taxon = Anaethalion

| authority = White, 1938

| subdivision_ranks = Species

| subdivision = See text

}}

Anaethalion is an extinct genus of prehistoric marine and freshwater ray-finned fish related to modern tarpons and ladyfish. It is known from the Late Jurassic to the Early Cretaceous of Europe and northeasterrn Asia (Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom and Russia), roughly encompassing the Tethys Ocean.{{Cite web |title=PBDB |url=https://paleobiodb.org/classic/basicTaxonInfo?taxon_no=35313 |access-date=2024-02-16 |website=paleobiodb.org}}{{Cite journal |last=Alves |first=Yuri Modesto |last2=Alvarado-Ortega |first2=Jesús |last3=Brito |first3=Paulo M. |date=2020-06-01 |title=†Epaelops martinezi gen. and sp. nov. from the Albian limestone deposits of the Tlayúa quarry, Mexico – A new late Mesozoic record of Elopiformes of the western Tethys |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0195667119300503 |journal=Cretaceous Research |volume=110 |pages=104260 |doi=10.1016/j.cretres.2019.104260 |issn=0195-6671|url-access=subscription }}

It is the earliest known member of the Elopiformes and the Elopomorpha in general.{{cite journal |last1=Near |first1=Thomas J |last2=Thacker |first2=Christine E |date=18 April 2024 |title=Phylogenetic classification of living and fossil ray-finned fishes (Actinopterygii) |journal=Bulletin of the Peabody Museum of Natural History |volume=65 |doi=10.3374/014.065.0101 |doi-access=free}} The earliest known species are marine, but later species are found in freshwater habitats.

The following species are known:

• A. macrorhynchus (Eichwald, 1846) (Aptian of Siberia)
• A. knorri (Blainville, 1818) (Kimmeridgian of Germany)
• A. valdensis (Woodward, 1907) (Berriasian-Hauterivian of England)
• A. zapporum Arratia, 2000 (Kimmeridgian of Germany)

An undescribed species is known from the Albian of Italy. The genus Aethalionopsis was previously considered synonymous with Anaethalion, but is now known to be a fossil relative of the milkfish. Some authorities place some of its species (A. valdensis and the undescribed Italian species) with Aethalionopsis instead.{{Citation |last1=Fara |first1=Emmanuel |title=The Fossil Record of Gonorynchiformes |date=2010-01-01 |work=Gonorynchiformes and Ostariophysan Relationships |pages=173–226 |url=https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00441945/file/Fara2009.pdf |access-date=2024-02-06 |publisher=CRC Press |doi=10.1201/b10194-6 |isbn=978-0-429-06156-1 |last2=Gayet |first2=Mireille |last3=Taverne |first3=Louis}}{{Cite journal |last=Taverne |first=Louis |date=1981 |title=Ostéologie et position systématique d'Aethalionopsis robustus (Pisces, Teleostei) du Crétacé inférieur de Bernissart (Belgique) considérations sur les affinités des Gonorhynchiformes |url=https://www.persee.fr/doc/barb_0001-4141_1981_num_67_1_57174 |journal=Bulletins de l'Académie Royale de Belgique |volume=67 |issue=1 |pages=958–982 |doi=10.3406/barb.1981.57174}}