Veridagon

Name: Veridagon ‭(‬True Dagon‭)‬.
Phonetic: Veh-re-da-gon.
Named By: Jesús Alberto Díaz-Cruz,‭ ‬Jesús Alvarado-Ortega‭ & ‬Gerardo Carbot-Chanona‭ ‬-‭ ‬2019.
Classification: Chordata,‭ ‬Actinopterygii,‭ ‬Neopterygii,‭ ‬Aleposauroidei,‭ ‬Enchodontidae.
Species: V.‭ ‬avendanoi‭ (‬type‭)‬.
Diet: Carnivore/piscivore‭?
Size: Holotype about‭ ‬22‭ ‬centimetres long.
Known locations: Mexico‭ ‬-‭ ‬Cintalapa Formation.
Time period: Cennomanian of the Cretaceous.
Fossil representation: Almost complete.




       Bearing a strong resemblance to the much better known Enchodus,‭ ‬Veridagon is a genus of predatory fish that lived during the late Cretaceous.‭ ‬The name Veridagon translates as‭ ‘‬true‭ ‬Dagon‭’‬,‭ ‬and was picked because the name Dagon by itself had already been used for a genus of butterfly.‭ ‬Anyone familiar with the works of H.‭ ‬P.‭ ‬Lovecraft will be familiar that Dagon was the deity of the Deep Ones.‭ ‬Also the Philistines were recorded as having a fish god also called Dagon.‭ ‬These were the inspirations for the genus name of this fish.

Further reading
-‭ ‬Dagon avendanoi gen.‭ ‬and sp.‭ ‬nov.,‭ ‬an Early Cenomanian Enchodontidae‭ (‬Aulopiformes‭) ‬fish from the El Chango quarry,‭ ‬Chiapas,‭ ‬southeastern Mexico.‭ ‬-‭ ‬Journal of South American Earth Sciences.‭ ‬91:‭ ‬272‭–‬284.‭ ‬-‭ ‬Jesús Alberto Díaz-Cruz,‭ ‬Jesús Alvarado-Ortega‭ & ‬Gerardo Carbot-Chanona‭ ‬-‭ ‬2019.



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