ichthyolith

File:Fish fossil.jpg.]]

An ichthyolith (from Greek, {{lang|grc|ἰχθύς}} “fish“ and {{lang|grc|λίθος}} ”stone”, “rock“, literally "fish-rock") is any disarticulated remains of a fish found in the fossil record, most often a scale, denticle or tooth. Ichthyoliths are found in nearly all marine sediment.{{Cite journal |last=Sibert |first=Elizabeth |last2=Cramer |first2=Katie |last3=Hastings |first3=Philip |last4=Norris |first4=Richard |date=March 2017 |title=Methods for isolation and quantification of microfossil fish teeth and elasmobranch dermal denticles (ichthyoliths) from marine sediments |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.26879/677 |journal=Palaeontologia Electronica |volume=20.1.2T |pages=1-14}}

The term was coined by Doyle, Kennedy and Riedel{{Cite journal |last=Doyle |first=Patricia |last2=Kennedy |first2=Grace |last3=Riedel |first3=W. R. |date=December 1974 |title=Stratignathy |url=http://www.deepseadrilling.org/26/volume/26dsdp.pdf |journal=Initial Reports of the Deep Sea Drilling Project |publisher=National Science Foundation National Ocean Sediment Coring Program and University of California Scripps Institution of Oceanography |volume=26 |pages=825-905}} (1974) to denote 'fish skeletal debris'.

The term 'stratignathy', proposed in the same paper for the time relationships of ichthyoliths, did not gain currency.