Eocottus

{{Short description|Extinct genus of fishes}}

{{Speciesbox

| fossil_range = {{fossilrange|50|49|Early Eocene{{cite journal|last=Sepkoski |first=Jack |title=A compendium of fossil marine animal genera |journal=Bulletins of American Paleontology |volume=363 |pages=1–560 |year=2002 |url=http://strata.ummp.lsa.umich.edu/jack/showgenera.php?taxon=611&rank=class |accessdate=2009-02-27 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110723131237/http://strata.ummp.lsa.umich.edu/jack/showgenera.php?taxon=611&rank=class |archivedate=2011-07-23 }}}}

| image = Eocottus veronensis.jpg

| image_caption = Specimen of E. veronensis, Museo di Storia Naturale di Verona

| grandparent_authority = Bannikov, 2004

| display_parents = 3

| taxon = Eocottus veronensis

| parent_authority = Woodward, 1901

| authority = (Volta, 1796)

| synonyms = * †Gobius veronensis Volta, 1796

}}

Eocottus (meaning "dawn Cottus") is an extinct genus of prehistoric marine ray-finned fish that lived during the early Eocene. It contains a single species, E. veronensis from the Monte Bolca site of Italy.{{Cite web |title=PBDB Taxon |url=https://paleobiodb.org/classic/basicTaxonInfo?taxon_no=txn:35895 |access-date=2024-12-31 |website=paleobiodb.org}}

Eocottus was a small fish that superficially resembled a goby or sculpin. It was initially described in Gobius by Volta (1796) (first erroneously as a fossil specimen of the Atlantic mudskipper, then Gobius barbatus, and then as its own species, G. veronensis), and moved to its own genus Eocottus by Woodward (1901), who considered it to be a relative of sculpins, hence its new name.{{Cite book |last=Geology |first=British Museum (Natural History) Department of |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Catalogue_of_the_Fossil_Fishes_in_the_Br/ZtEKAQAAIAAJ |title=Catalogue of the Fossil Fishes in the British Museum (Natural History): Actinopterygian Teleostomi of the suborders Isospondyli (in part), Ostariophysi, Apodes, Percesoces, Hemibranchii, Acanthopterygii, and Anacanthini |last2=Woodward |first2=Arthur Smith |date=1901 |publisher=order of the Trustees |language=en}} However, Bannikov (2004) determined it to be not closely related to any modern percomorph group, and placed it in its own family Eocottidae alongside Bassanichthys.{{Cite journal |last=Bannikov |first=Alexandre F. |date=2004 |title=EOCOTTIDAE, A NEW FAMILY OF PERCIFORM FISHES (TELEOSTEI) FROM THE EOCENE OF NORTHERN ITALY (BOLCA) |url=https://www.researchgate.net/profile/A-Bannikov/publication/281106269_Eocottidae_a_new_family_of_perciform_fishes_Teleostei_from_the_Eocene_of_northern_Italy_Bolca/links/55d5b32008ae9d659487a4fe/Eocottidae-a-new-family-of-perciform-fishes-Teleostei-from-the-Eocene-of-northern-Italy-Bolca.pdf |journal=Stud. Ric. Giacim. Terz. Bolca. Verona |volume=10 |pages=17-35}}{{Cite journal |last=Bannikov |first=A. F. |date=2006-05-01 |title=Bassanichthys, a new replacement generic name for the Eocene fish Bassania Bannikov, 2004 (Teleostei, Perciformes) |url=https://link.springer.com/article/10.1134/S0031030106030166 |journal=Paleontological Journal |language=en |volume=40 |issue=3 |pages=340–340 |doi=10.1134/S0031030106030166 |issn=1555-6174}}