Enchodontoidei

The Enchodontoidei are an extinct superorder of aulopiform fish known from the Early Cretaceous to the Eocene. They were among the dominant predatory marine fish groups in the Late Cretaceous, achieving a worldwide distribution. They were an extremely diverse group, with some developing fusiform body plans whereas others evolved elongated body plans with long beaks, superficially similar to eels and needlefish. They could also grow to very large sizes, as seen with Cimolichthys and Stratodus, the latter of which is the largest aulopiform known. Their most famous member is the widespread, abundant, and long-lasting genus Enchodus.

Enchodontoidei

Vassil · CC0 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Sits inside
AulopiformesPBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Aulopiformes
Life habit
nektonicPBDB, for Aulopiformes
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Aulopiformes

Time the record covers

At least 41 million years on record.

The record covers at least 113.2 Mya to 72.2 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 121.4 Mya to 66 Mya.

Early Cretaceous — about 1 of 25 occurrencesEarly CretaceousLate Cretaceous — about 24 of 25 occurrencesLate CretaceousPaleocene — about 0 of 25 occurrences123–121 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences121–119 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences119–117 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences117–115 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences115–113 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences101–99 Mya — about 3 occurrences99–98 Mya — about 6 occurrences98–96 Mya — about 6 occurrences96–94 Mya — about 5 occurrences94–92 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences92–90 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences90–88 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences88–86 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences86–84 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences84–82 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences82–80 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences80–78 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences78–76 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences76–74 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences74–73 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences73–71 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences71–69 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences69–67 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences67–65 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences113.2 Mya72.2 Mya123 Mya65 Mya

25 occurrences of Enchodontoidei on record, most of them in the Late Cretaceous. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group, and the chart stops with its fossils rather than at the present. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

25 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

9 formations

Sannine — 34.06°N, 35.69°EBet Meir or Amminadav — 31.95°N, 35.26°EZig Zag Chalk — 51.24°N, 0.27°WZig Zag Chalk — 51.33°N, 0.49°EKhodzhakul — 40.10°N, 65.80°EAkrabou — 30.51°N, 4.84°WMuwaddar Chalk Marl — 31.56°N, 36.51°ESierra Madre — 16.68°N, 93.46°WCintalapa — 16.57°N, 93.27°WHolleywell, New Pit, Lewes — 51.30°N, 0.39°E

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The named rock units Enchodontoidei has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 9 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Enchodontoidei and its relatives

Late Cretaceous

Where Enchodontoidei and its relatives were recorded in the Late Cretaceous.

Found in the same rock

371 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 20 sites for Enchodontoidei, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

17 references

Each of the 25 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. 5 further references are not listed. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content1

Picture of Enchodontoidei

Credit
Vassil
Licence
CC0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Enchodontoidei was found in Sketchfab.

Smithsonian Open Access and MorphoSource were not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itAulopiformes through timeFormations of the Late CretaceousThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. (Berg 1937)