Cyranichthys

{{Short description|Extinct genus of ray-finned fishes}}

{{Italic title}}

{{Automatic taxobox

| name = Cyranichthys

| fossil_range = {{fossil range|Cenomanian|Maastrichtian|Cenomanian to Maastrichtian}}

| image =

| image_caption =

| subdivision_ranks = Species

| subdivision = * {{extinct}}C. congolensis (Casier, 1965)

• {{extinct}}C. ornatissimus (Casier, 1965)
• {{extinct}}C. jagti Taverne & Goolaerts, 2015

| type_species = {{extinct}}Dercetis ornatissimus

| type_species_authority = Casier, 1965

| taxon = Cyranichthys

| authority = Taverne, 1987

}}

Cyranichthys is an extinct genus of marine ray-finned fish known from the Late Cretaceous of central Africa and western Europe.{{Cite web |title=PBDB Taxon |url=https://paleobiodb.org/classic/basicTaxonInfo?taxon_no=35560 |access-date=2024-07-26 |website=Paleobiology Database}} It was a member of Dercetidae, a group of elongated aulopiforms.{{cite journal |last=Silva |first=Hilda |author2=Gallo, Valeria |year=2011 |title=Taxonomic review and phylogenetic analysis of Enchodontoidei (Teleostei: Aulopiformes) |url=http://www.scielo.br/pdf/aabc/v83n2/v83n2a10.pdf |journal=Annals of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences |volume=83 |issue=2 |pages=483–511 |doi=10.1590/S0001-37652011000200010 |pmid=21670874}}

It contains three species:

• {{extinct}}C. congolensis (Casier, 1965) - Cenomanian of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (Kipala Formation) (=Dercetis congolensis Casier, 1965){{Cite journal |last=Chida |first=Mori |last2=Brinkman |first2=Donald B. |last3=Murray |first3=Alison M. |date=2023-10-01 |title=A large, new dercetid fish (Teleostei: Aulopiformes) from the Campanian Bearpaw Formation of Alberta, Canada |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0195667123001076 |journal=Cretaceous Research |volume=150 |pages=105579 |doi=10.1016/j.cretres.2023.105579 |issn=0195-6671}}
• {{extinct}}C. ornatissimus (Casier, 1965) - Cenomanian of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (Kipala Formation) (=Dercetis ornatissimus Casier, 1965)
• {{extinct}}C. jagti Taverne & Goolaerts, 2015 - Maastrichtian of Belgium and the Netherlands (Maastricht Formation){{Cite journal |last=Taverne |first=Louis |last2=Goolaerts |first2=Stijn |date=2015-01-01 |title=The dercetid fishes (Teleostei, Aulopiformes) from the Maastrichtian (Late Cretaceous) of Belgium and The Netherlands |url=https://popups.uliege.be/1374-8505/index.php?id=4794 |journal=Geologica Belgica |language=en |issn=1374-8505}}

Previously, this genus was thought to be represented by a single species known from the Cenomanian of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which was previously classified in Dercetis but placed in its own genus in 1987. However, fossils of the later-described C. jagti confirmed the persistence of the species up to the end of the Cretaceous in Europe. A second Congolese species was later reclassified into this genus as well.

The living animal would have had a gar-like or saury-like appearance, although its closest living relatives are lancetfish and lizardfish.