Caproberyx is an extinct genus of marine acanthomorph ray-finned fish, possibly a holocentrid, from the Late Cretaceous.[1]

Caproberyx
Temporal range: Turonian
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Holocentriformes (?)
Genus: Caproberyx
Regan, 1911
Species:
C. superbus
Binomial name
Caproberyx superbus
(Dixon, 1850)
Synonyms

It contains a single species, C. superbus, from the early to late Turonian of the English Chalk. Other former species found in Lebanon (C. pharsus) and Morocco (C. polydesmus) have been assigned to their own genera (Pattersonoberyx and Stichoberyx respectively).[1][2][3] Potential remains of an indeterminate species have also been found in the Smoky Hill Chalk of Kansas, USA.[3][4][5] The fossil of a similar fish is also known from the Mancos Shale of New Mexico, USA.[6]

Previously considered a berycid, it has more recently often been considered an early holocentrid, making it related to squirrelfishes and soldierfishes.[3] However, more recent studies have recovered it as an indeterminate acanthomorph, and possibly most closely related to the Trachichthyiformes.[7]

The species name superbus references the exceptional nature of some specimens, consisting of three-dimensionally preserved mass death assemblages with mouths open in tetany. Such specimens may be the result of rapid burial following these mass mortalities.[2]

References

edit
  • Fishes of the World by Joseph S. Nelson
  • Kansas Geology: An Introduction to Landscapes, Rocks, Minerals, and Fossils by Rex Buchanan
  1. ^ a b "PBDB Taxon". paleobiodb.org. Retrieved 2024-04-19.
  2. ^ a b Friedman, Matt; Beckett, Hermione T.; Close, Roger A.; Johanson, Zerina (2016). "The English Chalk and London Clay: two remarkable British bony fish Lagerstätten". Geological Society, London, Special Publications. 430 (1): 165–200. doi:10.1144/SP430.18. ISSN 0305-8719.
  3. ^ a b c Murray, Alison M. (2014). "Mid-Cretaceous acanthomorph fishes with the description of a new species from the Turonian of Lac des Bois, Northwest Territories, Canada". Vertebrate Anatomy Morphology Palaeontology. 1: 101–115. doi:10.18435/B5CC78. ISSN 2292-1389.
  4. ^ Pool, Bob (1991-08-16). "A Fish Catch With Cachet : Buyer Must Donate Fossil to Museum, but Gets to Name Species". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2024-04-19.
  5. ^ Allen, Jonathan G.; Shimada, Kenshu (2021-10-01). "Fossil vertebrates from a unique marine bonebed of the Upper Cretaceous Smoky Hill Chalk, western Kansas, U.S.A.: new insights into the paleoecology of the Niobrara Formation". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 41 (6). doi:10.1080/02724634.2021.2066999. ISSN 0272-4634.
  6. ^ "New Mexico Geological Society Annual Spring Meeting:Abstract". New Mexico Geological Society. doi:10.56577/sm-2023.2894. Retrieved 2024-04-19.
  7. ^ Andrews, James V.; Schein, Jason P.; Friedman, Matt (2023). "An earliest Paleocene squirrelfish (Teleostei: Beryciformes: Holocentroidea) and its bearing on the timescale of holocentroid evolution". Journal of Systematic Palaeontology. 21 (1). doi:10.1080/14772019.2023.2168571. ISSN 1477-2019.