Enchodontoidei

{{Automatic taxobox

| fossil_range = {{fossil range|Barremian|Early Eocene}}

| image = Eurypholis Muséum Grenoble 03082017.jpg

| image_caption = Specimen of Eurypholis boissieri (Enchodontidae)

| image2 = Dercetis serpentinus.JPG

| image2_caption = Specimen of Dercetis serpentinus (Dercetidae)

| taxon = Enchodontoidei

| authority = Berg, 1937

| subdivision_ranks = Families

| subdivision = See text

}}

The Enchodontoidei are an extinct superorder of aulopiform fish known from the Early Cretaceous to the Eocene.{{Cite web |title=PBDB |url=https://paleobiodb.org/classic/basicTaxonInfo?taxon_no=117690 |access-date=2024-01-17 |website=paleobiodb.org}} They were among the dominant predatory marine fish groups in the Late Cretaceous, achieving a worldwide distribution. They were an extremely diverse group, with some developing fusiform body plans whereas others evolved elongated body plans with long beaks, superficially similar to eels and needlefish.{{cite journal |last1=Silva |first1=Hilda M. A |last2=Gallo |first2=Valéria |title=Taxonomic review and phylogenetic analysis of Enchodontoidei (Teleostei: Aulopiformes) |journal=Anais da Academia Brasileira de Ciências |date=June 2011 |volume=83 |issue=2 |pages=483–511 |doi=10.1590/S0001-37652011000200010 |pmid=21670874 }} They could also grow to very large sizes, as seen with Cimolichthys and Stratodus, the latter of which is the largest aulopiform known. Their most famous member is the widespread, abundant, and long-lasting genus Enchodus.

Most enchodontoids went extinct at the end of the Cretaceous, although some dercetids survived into the Early Paleocene and Stratodus into the Early Eocene of the Trans-Saharan seaway.{{cite journal |last1=Chida |first1=Mori |last2=Brinkman |first2=Donald B. |last3=Murray |first3=Alison M. |title=A large, new dercetid fish (Teleostei: Aulopiformes) from the Campanian Bearpaw Formation of Alberta, Canada |journal=Cretaceous Research |date=October 2023 |volume=150 |pages=105579 |doi=10.1016/j.cretres.2023.105579 |bibcode=2023CrRes.15005579C |s2cid=258803963 }}{{cite journal |last1=O'leary |first1=Maureen A. |last2=Bouaré |first2=Mamadou L. |last3=Claeson |first3=Kerin M. |last4=Heilbronn |first4=Kelly |last5=Hill |first5=Robert V. |last6=Mccartney |first6=Jacob |last7=Sessa |first7=Jocelyn A. |last8=Sissoko |first8=Famory |last9=Tapanila |first9=Leif |last10=Wheeler |first10=Elisabeth |last11=Roberts |first11=Eric M. |title=Stratigraphy and Paleobiology of the Upper Cretaceous-Lower Paleogene Sediments from the Trans-Saharan Seaway in Mali |journal=Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History |date=28 June 2019 |volume=2019 |issue=436 |pages=1 |doi=10.1206/0003-0090.436.1.1 |s2cid=198398386 |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/268312 }} Some remains of Enchodus have also been recovered from the Paleocene and Eocene, although this may just represent reworked material.{{cite journal |last1=Fielitz |first1=Christopher |last2=González-Rodríguez |first2=Katia A. |title=A New Species of Enchodus (aulopiformes: Enchodontidae) from the Cretaceous (albian to Cenomanian) of Zimapán, Hidalgo, México |journal=Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology |date=2010 |volume=30 |issue=5 |pages=1343–1351 |doi=10.1080/02724634.2010.501438 |jstor=40864352 |bibcode=2010JVPal..30.1343F |s2cid=84281080 }}{{cite journal |last1=Rana |first1=R. S. |last2=Kumar |first2=K. |last3=Singh |first3=H. |last4=Rose |first4=K. D. |title=Lower vertebrates from the Late Palaeocene–Earliest Eocene Akli Formation, Giral Lignite Mine, Barmer District, western India |journal=Current Science |date=2005 |volume=89 |issue=9 |pages=1606–1613 |jstor=24110948 |oclc=9979790250 }}{{cite journal |last1=Davis |first1=Matthew P. |last2=Fielitz |first2=Christopher |title=Estimating divergence times of lizardfishes and their allies (Euteleostei: Aulopiformes) and the timing of deep-sea adaptations |journal=Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution |date=December 2010 |volume=57 |issue=3 |pages=1194–1208 |doi=10.1016/j.ympev.2010.09.003 |pmid=20854916 |bibcode=2010MolPE..57.1194D }}

Taxonomy

Although initially classified among Stomiiformes and then the Salmoniformes in the mid-20th century, studies since the 1970s have found them to be deeply nested among the lizardfishes and lancetfishes in the order Aulopiformes. Some studies group them with the extant superorder Alepisauroidei, although a majority consider them their own distinct group. Their taxonomy is disputed, with some studies finding the group to be polyphyletic with its members scattered among the Aulopiformes, although most recent studies have recovered the group as monophyletic, based on the synapomorphy of maxilla included in the gape of the mouth.{{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 |page=101 |doi=10.3374/014.065.0101 |doi-access=free|bibcode=2024BPMNH..65..101N }}{{cite journal |last1=Murray |first1=Alison M. |last2=Chida |first2=Mori |last3=Holmes |first3=Robert B. |title=New enchodontoid fish (Teleostei: Aulopiformes) from the Late Cretaceous of Lebanon |journal=Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology |date=30 June 2022 |volume=42 |issue=1 |doi=10.1080/02724634.2022.2101370 |bibcode=2022JVPal..42E1370M |s2cid=251679183 }}{{sfn|Chida|2022|p=100}} Other studies have classified the different superfamilies as their own individual suborders, though most now classify them as one suborder. The taxonomy within the group is even more disputed, with multiple families within the group recovered as paraphyletic in some studies.{{sfn|Chida|2022|p=33}}{{cite thesis |last1=Fielitz |first1=Christopher |date=1999 |title=Phylogenetic analysis of the family Enchodontidae and its relationships to recent members of the order Aulopiformes |id={{ProQuest|304510360}} |oclc=41928771 }}{{pn|date=January 2024}}

= Classification =

The following taxonomy is partially based on Silva & Gallo (2011). Other studies have found differing classifications for the group.{{sfn|Chida|2022|p={{pn|date=January 2024}}}}

Suborder †Enchodontoidei
Genus †Atolvorator
Genus †Hemisaurida (possibly in the Halecidae)
Genus †Spinascutichthys
Genus †Stratodus (possibly in the Dercetidae)
Genus †Rharbichthys (possibly in the Enchodontidae)
Genus †Yabrudichthys
Family †Nardorexidae
Family †Aspidopleuridae (containing only Aspidopleurus){{Cite journal |last1=Alvarado-Ortega |first1=Jesús |last2=Porras-Múzquiz |first2=Héctor Gerardo |date=2012-12-31 |title=The first American record of Aspidopleurus (Teleostei, Aulopiformes), from La Mula Quarry (Turonian), Coahuila State, Mexico |url=http://www.sbpbrasil.org/revista/edicoes/15_3/02_alvarado_ortega_&_porras-muzquiz.pdf |journal=Revista Brasileira de Paleontologia |volume=15 |issue=3 |pages=251–263 |doi=10.4072/rbp.2012.3.02|bibcode=2012RvBrP..15..251A }}{{Cite journal |last1=Díaz-Cruz |first1=Jesús Alberto |last2=Alvarado-Ortega |first2=Jesús |last3=Carbot-Chanona |first3=Gerardo |date=2016-06-01 |title=The Cenomanian short snout enchodontid fishes (Aulopifomes, Enchodontidae) from Sierra Madre Formation, Chiapas, southeastern Mexico |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0195667115301518 |journal=Cretaceous Research |volume=61 |pages=136–150 |doi=10.1016/j.cretres.2015.12.026 |bibcode=2016CrRes..61..136D |issn=0195-6671}}
Family ? †Serrilepidae (alternatively within the Halecidae)
Superfamily †Ichthyotringoidea
Genus †Ursichthys{{Cite journal |last1=Newbrey |first1=Michael G. |last2=Konishi |first2=Takuya |date=2015-05-04 |title=A new lizardfish (Teleostei, Aulopiformes) from the Late Cretaceous Bearpaw Formation of Alberta, Canada, with a revised diagnosis of Apateodus (Aulopiformes, Ichthyotringoidei) |url=http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02724634.2014.918042 |journal=Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology |language=en |volume=35 |issue=3 |pages=e918042 |doi=10.1080/02724634.2014.918042 |bibcode=2015JVPal..35E8042N |issn=0272-4634|url-access=subscription }}
Family †Ichthyotringidae
Family †Apateopholidae
Superfamily †Cimolichthyoidea
Family †Cimolichthyidae
Family †Dercetidae
Family †Prionolepididae
Superfamily †Enchodontoidea
Family †Enchodontidae
Superfamily †Halecoidea
Family †Halecidae

References

Sources

{{cite thesis |last1=Chida |first1=Mori |title=A new species of dercetid and the assessment of the phylogeny of the Enchodontoidei (Teleostei: Aulopiformes) |date=Fall 2022 |publisher=University of Alberta Library |doi=10.7939/r3-nqmz-nf15 |doi-broken-date=3 June 2025 |doi-access=free }}

Enchodontoidei

Taxonomy

= Classification =

References

Sources

Further reading