Mylacanthus

{{Short description|Extinct genus of fishes}}

{{Automatic taxobox

| fossil_range = {{fossilrange|251|250|early Olenekian}}

| image = Triassic marine vertebrate apex predators.png

| image_caption =Mylacanthus (10) and other Triassic marine predators{{cite journal |last1=Scheyer |first1=Torsten M. |last2=Romano |first2=Carlo |last3=Jenks |first3=Jim |last4=Bucher |first4=Hugo |year=2014 |title=Early Triassic Marine Biotic Recovery: The Predators' Perspective |journal=PLoS ONE |volume=9 |issue=3 |pages=e88987 |doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0088987 |doi-access=free|pmc=3960099 }}

| taxon = Mylacanthus

| authority = Stensiö, 1921

| type_species = {{extinct}}Mylacanthus lobatus

| type_species_authority = Stensiö, 1921

| subdivision_ranks = Other species

| subdivision = * {{extinct}}Mylacanthus spinosus Stensiö, 1921

}}

Mylacanthus is an extinct genus of prehistoric coelacanth lobe-finned fish that lived during the Smithian (early Olenekian) age of the Early Triassic epoch in what is now Svalbard.{{Cite web|url=https://paleobiodb.org/classic/checkTaxonInfo?taxon_no=34940|title=Fossilworks: Mylacanthus|website=fossilworks.org|access-date=17 December 2021}}{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wHZ6WwqbrmkC&q=Mylacanthus&pg=PA356|title=History of the Coelacanth Fishes|last=Forey|first=Peter|date=1997-11-30|publisher=Springer Science & Business Media|isbn=9780412784804|language=en}}{{cite journal |last1=Romano |first1=Carlo |last2=Koot |first2=Martha B. |last3=Kogan |first3=Ilja |last4=Brayard |first4=Arnaud |last5=Minikh |first5=Alla V. |last6=Brinkmann |first6=Winand |last7=Bucher |first7=Hugo |last8=Kriwet |first8=Jürgen |title=Permian-Triassic Osteichthyes (bony fishes): diversity dynamics and body size evolution |journal=Biological Reviews |date=2016 |volume=91 |issue=1 |pages=106–147 |doi=10.1111/brv.12161 |pmid=25431138 |s2cid=5332637 }}

Two species are known, the type species Mylacanthus lobatus and a second species, M. spinosus. The fossils of both of these species were collected from the Lusitaniadalen Member of the Vikinghøgda Formation. Mylacanthus had an estimated body length of {{cvt|60|cm|in}} to {{cvt|80|cm|in}}.{{Cite book |last=Stensiö |first=Erik |author-link=Erik Stensiö |title=Triassic fishes from Spitzbergen |year=1921 |publisher=Adolf Holzhausen |location=Vienna |pages=xxviii + 307 |doi=10.5962/bhl.title.159141|s2cid=83338211 |doi-access=free }}