The Gonorynchiformes are an order of ray-finned fish that includes the important food source, the milkfish, and a number of lesser-known types, both marine and freshwater.
The milkfish is a widespread species of ray-finned fish found throughout the Indo-Pacific. It is the sole living species in the family Chanidae, and the only living member of the genus Chanos. The repeating scientific name (tautonym) is from Greek khanos.
Chanidae is a family of fishes which has a number of fossil genera and one monotypic extant genus which contains the milkfish.
Gonorynchus is a genus of long thin gonorynchiform ray-finned fish, commonly called beaked salmon or beaked sandfish. They live on sandy bottoms near shorelines of the temperate & subtropical Southern Hemisphere and East Asia. There are five known extant species which are placed in this genus. All have a distinctive angular snout that the fish use to dig themselves into the sand. A swim bladder is absent.
Gonorynchidae is a family of ray-finned fish in the order Gonorynchiformes, which has a number of fossil taxa and one extant genus, Gonorynchus, the beaked salmons. They are an ancient group, with fossils known from as far back as the Albian stage of the Early Cretaceous.
The Elopiformes are the order of ray-finned fish including the tarpons, tenpounders, and ladyfish, as well as a number of extinct types. They have a long fossil record, easily distinguished from other fishes by the presence of an additional set of bones in the throat.
Pycnodontiformes is an extinct order of primarily marine bony fish. The group first appeared during the Late Triassic and disappeared during the Eocene. The group has been found in rock formations in Africa, Asia, Europe, North and South America. They were small to middle-sized fish, generally with laterally-compressed deep bodies, some with almost circular outlines, adapted for manuverability in reef-like environments, though the group was morphologically diverse. Most, but not all members of the groups had jaws with round and flattened teeth, well adapted to crush food items (durophagy), such as echinoderms, crustaceans and molluscs. Some pyncodontiformes developed piranha like teeth used for eating flesh. Most species inhabited shallow marine reef environments, while a handful of species lived in freshwater or brackish conditions. While rare during the Triassic and Early-Middle Jurassic, Pycnodontiformes became abundant and diverse during the Late Jurassic, exhibiting a high but relatively static diversity during the Early Cretaceous. At the beginning of the Late Cretaceous they reached their apex of morphological and species diversity, after which they began to gradually decline, with a more sudden decline at the end of the Cretaceous due to the collapse of reef ecosystems, finally becoming extinct during the Eocene. They are considered to belong to the Neopterygii, but their relationship to other members of that group is uncertain.
The Kneriidae are a small family of freshwater gonorhynchiform fishes native to sub-Saharan Africa.
Charitopsis is an extinct genus of prehistoric marine ray-finned fish that lived during the lower Cenomanian. It was a relative of modern beaked salmons. It contains a single species, C. spinosus from the Sannine Formation of Lebanon. It is possibly related to the sympatric gonorynchid Charitosomus, although some anatomical traits are more similar to the Cenozoic gonorynchids.
Chanopsis is an extinct genus of prehistoric freshwater bonytongue relative that lived from the late Aptian to the Albian stage of the Early Cretaceous epoch. It contains a single species, C. lombardi from the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Coelogaster is an extinct genus of marine ray-finned fish that lived during the early Eocene. It contains a single species, C. leptostea, known from the famous Monte Bolca site of Italy.
Amiopsis is an extinct genus of prehistoric freshwater and marine bony fish belonging to the family Amiidae, making it closely related to the modern bowfin. Fossils are known from the Late Jurassic Solnhofen Limestone, Germany, the Early Cretaceous Purbeck Group, England, La Pedrera de Rúbies Formation, Spain and Bernnissant Iguanodon locality, Belgium and the Late Cretaceous (Cenomanian) of the Balkans. The monophyly of the genus is questionable, due to it being based on a single character, "the presence of three or more lateral fossae on each side of most abdominal centra". Remains previously assigned to this genus from the Early Cretaceous Las Hoyas, Spain have been moved into the new genus Hispanamia.
Anaethalion is an extinct genus of prehistoric marine and freshwater ray-finned fish related to modern tarpons and ladyfish. It is known from the Late Jurassic to the Early Cretaceous of Europe and northeasterrn Asia, roughly encompassing the Tethys Ocean.
Brychaetus is an extinct genus of prehistoric marine bonytongue fish known from the Late Cretaceous to the late Eocene of Europe, North America, and northern Africa.
Charitosomus is an extinct genus of prehistoric marine ray-finned fish from the Late Cretaceous, related to modern beaked salmons. They were nektonic carnivores in life.
Ceramurus is an extinct genus of prehistoric marine ray-finned fish from the Late Jurassic. It contains a single species, C. macrocephalus from the Purbeck Group of England.
Casieroides is an extinct genus of prehistoric freshwater ray-finned fish. It contains a single species, C. yamangaensis from the Early Cretaceous Loia Formation of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Caeus is an extinct genus of prehistoric marine ray-finned fish, closely related to the modern milkfish. It contains a single species, C. leopoldi from the Early Cretaceous of the Pietraroja Plattenkalk, Italy. It is one of the largest teleosts known from the Pietraroja formation, and is known by only a single specimen.
Pycnodontidae is an extinct family of ray-finned fishes, ranging from the Jurassic period until the Eocene. It was the largest and most derived family of the successful Mesozoic fish order Pycnodontiformes, and the only member of it to survive into the Cenozoic.
The Sainte-Barbe Clays Formation is a geological formation in Belgium. It is found in localised areas of the northern margin of the Mons Basin, alongside the equivalently aged Hautrage and Baudour Clay Formations. It is Upper Barremian-Lower Aptian in age. It predominantly consists of laminated clay, with some lignite. It is well known for the "Iguanodon sinkhole" locality near Bernissart where many specimens of Iguanodon bernissartensis were described by Louis Dollo in the late 19th century.
