Eotetraodon

{{Short description|Extinct genus of fishes}}

{{Automatic taxobox

| fossil_range = {{fossilrange|50|38.0|Late Ypresian to Bartonian{{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 = Eotetraodon pygmaeus.jpg

| image_caption = Reconstruction of E. pygmaeus

| taxon = Eotetraodon

| authority = Tyler, 1980

| type_species = {{extinct}}Tetraodon pygmaeus

| type_species_authority = de Zigno, 1887

| subdivision = * †E. gornylutshensis Bannikov & Tyler, 2012

• †E. pygmaeus (de Zigno, 1887)
• †E. tavernei Tyler & Bannikov, 2012

}}

Eotetraodon ("dawn Tetraodon") is an extinct genus of miniature prehistoric pufferfish that lived in Europe from the early to mid-late Eocene. It is the earliest pufferfish known from fossil remains.{{Cite web |title=PBDB Taxon |url=https://paleobiodb.org/classic/basicTaxonInfo?taxon_no=36295 |access-date=2025-02-14 |website=paleobiodb.org}}

The following species are known:

• †E. gornylutshensis Bannikov & Tyler, 2008 - mid-late Eocene (Bartonian) of the North Caucasus, Russia (Kuma Formation){{cite journal |last1=Bannikov |first1=A. F. |last2=Tyler |first2=J. C. |year=2008 |title=A new species of the pufferfish Eotetraodon (Tetraodontiformes, Tetraodontidae) from the Eocene of the Northern Caucasus |journal=Paleontological Journal |volume=42 |issue=5 |pages=526–530 |bibcode=2008PalJ...42..526B |doi=10.1134/S0031030108050080 |s2cid=84830626}}
• †E. pygmaeus (de Zigno, 1887) (type species) - early Eocene of Italy (Monte Bolca lagerstatten){{Cite book |last1=Geology |first1=British Museum (Natural History) Department of |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=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}}
• †E. tavernei Tyler & Bannikov, 2012 - early Eocene of Italy (Monte Bolca lagerstatten){{Cite journal |last1=Tyler |first1=James C. |last2=Bannikov |first2=Alexandre F. |date=2012 |title=A NEW SPECIES OF PUFFER FISH, EOTETRAODON TAVERNEI, FROM THE EOCENE OF MONTE BOLCA, ITALY (TETRAODONTIDAE, TETRAODONTIFORMES) |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/266089056 |journal=Studi e Ricerche sui Giacimenti Terziari di Bolca |issue=XIV}}

As the name of the type species suggests, Eotetraodon was a very small fish that (depending on the species) reached only {{Convert|17.5 to 20.1|mm|in}}. Despite this very small size, fossil specimens are fully ossified, suggesting that they are of adult individuals.

Although generally considered an early pufferfish, some recent studies have placed it as part of an evolutionary grade, containing several other Bolca tetraodontiforms, leading to the threetooth puffer (Triodon), a different tetraodontiform fish.{{Cite journal |last1=Ridolfi |first1=Lorenzo |last2=Marramà |first2=Giuseppe |last3=Tyler |first3=James |last4=Carnevale |first4=Giorgio |date=2025-01-31 |title=A NEW FOSSIL CLARIFIES THE ANATOMY AND PHYLOGENETIC RELATIONSHIPS OF THE EOCENE GYMNODONT FISH †ZIGNOICHTHYS OBLONGUS (ZIGNO, 1874) |url=https://riviste.unimi.it/index.php/RIPS/article/view/23409 |journal=Rivista Italiana di Paleontologia e Stratigrafia |language=en |volume=131 |issue=1 |doi=10.54103/2039-4942/23409 |issn=2039-4942}}