Enchodus ‭(‬also known as‭ ‘‬the sabre-toothed herring‭’)

En-coe-dus.
Published on

Benjamin Gutierrez

Vertebrate Paleontologist

Benjamin Gutierrez is a leading expert on dinosaurs, particularly the mighty theropods. His fieldwork in South America has uncovered new species and provided insights into dinosaur social structures.

Cite Feedback Print

Name

Enchodus ‭(‬Spear tooth‭).

Phonetic

En-coe-dus.

Named By

Classification

Chordata,‭ ‬Actinopterygii,‭ ‬Neopterygii,‭ ‬Salmoniformes,‭ ‬Enchodontoidei,‭ ‬Enchodontidae.

Diet

Carnivore/Piscivore.

Species

Size

1.5‭ ‬meters long,‭ ‬fangs can reach to over six centimetres long on the largest species,‭ ‬E.‭ ‬petrosus.‭ ‬Other species smaller,‭ ‬as much as just a few centimetres long.

Known locations

Worldwide.

Time Period

Late Cretaceous through to the Eocene.

Fossil representation

Huge number of fossils.‭ ‬Usually the teeth are the most common fossils,‭ ‬but skulls and partial post cranial remains are also known.

In Depth

Further Reading

– Review of the Vertebrata of the Cretaceous period found west of the Mississippi River – Edward Drinker Cope – 1874. – Vert�br�s fossiles du bassin du Niger [Fossil vertebrates of the Niger basin] – C. Arambourg & L. Joleaud – 1943. – A check list of North American Marine Cretaceous vertebrates including fresh water fishes – D. A. Russel – 1988. – Fossil fishes from the Cenomanian (Upper Cretaceous) of Namoura, Lebanon. – P. L. Forey, L. Yi, C. Patterson & C. E. Davis – 2003. – A New Species of Enchodus (Aulopiformes: Enchodontidae) from the Cretaceous (Albian to Cenomanian) of Zimap�n, Hidalgo, M�xico – C. Fielitz & K. A. Gonzalez-Rodriguez – 2010. – A new species of the neopterygian fish Enchodus from the Duwi Formation, Campanian, Late Cretaceous, Western Desert, central Egypt. – Acta Palaeontologica Polonica. 62 (3): 603–611. – Waymon L. Holloway, Kerin M. Claeson, Hesham M. Sallam, Sanaa El-Sayed, Mahmoud Kora, Joseph J.W. Sertich & Patrick M. O’Connor – 2017.

Adopt A Species
prehistoric-wildlife new logo

Love this species?

Adopt it today!

(UPDATED!)

SPECIES SPOTLIGHT