Enchoteuthis

{{short description|Genus of Cretaceous cephalopods}}

{{italic title}}

{{Taxobox

| image = Enchoteuthis_reconstruction.png

| image_caption = Reconstructions of the holotype and largest specimen based on Muensterella and Dosidicus

| fossil_range = {{fossil range|Albian|Campanian}}

| regnum = Animalia

| phylum = Mollusca

| classis = Cephalopoda

| ordo = Octopoda

| subordo = †Teudopseina

| superfamilia = †Muensterelloidea

| familia = †Muensterellidae

| subfamilia = †Enchoteuthinae
Larson, 2010{{cite journal |last1=Larson |first1=N.L. |date=2010 |title=Fossil coleoids from the Late Cretaceous (Campanian & Maastrichtian) of the Western Interior |journal=Ferrantia |volume=59 |pages=78–113}}

| genus = †Enchoteuthis
Miller & Walker, 1968{{cite journal |last1=Miller |first1=H.W. |last2=Walker |first2=M.V. |date=1968 |title=Enchoteuthis melanae and Kansasteuthis lindneri, new genera and species of teuthids, and a sepiid from the Niobrara Formation of Kansas |journal=Transactions of the Kansas Academy of Science |volume=71 |issue=2 |pages=176–183 |doi=10.2307/3627369|jstor=3627369 }}

| type_species = †Enchoteuthis melanae

| type_species_authority = Miller & Walker, 1968

| subdivision_ranks = Other species

| subdivision = * {{extinct}}E. tonii (Wade, 1993){{cite journal |last1=Wade |first1=M. |date=1993 |title=New Kelaenida and Vampyromorpha: Cretaceous squid from Queensland |journal=Memoirs of the Association of Australasian Palaeontologists |volume=15 |pages=353–374}}

• {{extinct}}E. cobbani (Larson, 2010)

| synonyms = *Kansasteuthis lindneri
Miller & Walker, 1968

• Niobrarateuthis walkeri
  Green, 1977{{cite journal |last1=Green |first1=R.G. |date=1977 |title=Niobrarateuthis walkeri, a new species of teuthid from the Upper Cretaceous Niobrara Formation of Kansas |journal=Journal of Paleontology |volume=51 |issue=5 |pages=992–995}}
• Muensterella tonii
  Wade, 1993
• Tusoteuthis cobbani
  Larson, 2010

| synonyms_ref = {{cite journal |last1=Fuchs |first1=D. |last2=Iba |first2=Y. |last3=Heyng |first3=A. |last4=Iijima |first4=M. |last5=Klug |first5=C. |last6=Larson |first6=N.L. |last7=Schweigert |first7=G. |date=2020 |title=The Muensterelloidea: phylogeny and character evolution of Mesozoic stem octopods |journal=Papers in Palaeontology |volume=6 |issue=1 |pages=31–92 |doi=10.1002/spp2.1254|bibcode=2020PPal....6...31F |s2cid=198256507 }}

}}

Enchoteuthis (meaning "spear squid") is an extinct genus of large enchoteuthine cephalopod that lived during the Cretaceous. Although it and its relative Tusoteuthis are often compared to squid, both are now thought to be more closely related to modern octopuses. Examination of gladius remains initially yielded an estimated mantle length about {{cvt|2|m|0}} based on specimen once described as Tusoteuthis longa, close to or equal to that of the modern giant squid, although reclassification of this genus as a muensterelloid results in a much shorter total length, about {{cvt|3|m|0}}. Three species are currently recognized as valid: E. melanae, E. tonii, and E. cobbani.