Semionotiformes is an order of ray-finned fish known from the Middle Triassic (Anisian) to the Late Cretaceous (Maastrichtian). Their closest living relatives are gars (Lepisosteidae), with both groups belonging to the clade Ginglymodi within the Holostei. The group includes both freshwater (Semionotidae) and marine adapted forms. Many members of the family Macrosemiidae, had elongated dorsal fins, often associated with an adjacent area of skin which was free of scales. These fins were likely undulated for use in precision swimming. The body morphology of macrosemiids suggests that they were slow swimmers who were capable of maneuvering around complex topography, such as reef environments.
Cimolichthys is an extinct genus of large predatory marine aulopiform fish known worldwide from the Late Cretaceous. It is the only member of the family Cimolichthyidae.
Axelrodichthys is an extinct genus of mawsoniid coelacanth from the Cretaceous of Africa, North and South America, and Europe. Several species are known, the remains of which were discovered in the Lower Cretaceous (Aptian-Albian) of Brazil, North Africa, and possibly Mexico, as well as in the Upper Cretaceous of Morocco (Cenomanian), Madagascar and France. The Axelrodichthys of the Lower Cretaceous frequented both brackish and coastal marine waters while the most recent species lived exclusively in fresh waters. The French specimens are the last known fresh water coelacanths. Most of the species of this genus reached 1 metre to 2 metres in length. Axelrodichthys was named in 1986 by John G. Maisey in honor of the American ichthyologist Herbert R. Axelrod.
Belonostomus is a genus of prehistoric ray-finned fish that was described by Louis Agassiz in 1844. It is a member of the order Aspidorhynchiformes, a group of fish known for their distinctive elongated rostrums.
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.
Mawsonia is an extinct genus of prehistoric coelacanth fish. It is amongst the largest of all coelacanths, with one quadrate specimen possibly belonging to an individual measuring 5.3 metres in length. It lived in freshwater and brackish environments from the late Jurassic to the mid-Cretaceous of South America, eastern North America, and Africa. Mawsonia was first described by British paleontologist Arthur Smith Woodward in 1907.
The Kem Kem Group is a geological group in the Kem Kem region of eastern Morocco, whose strata date back to the Cenomanian stage of the Late Cretaceous. Its strata are subdivided into two geological formations, with the lower Ifezouane Formation and the upper Aoufous Formation used for the strata on the eastern side of the Atlas Mountains (Tinghir), with the Gara Sbaa Formation and Douira Formation used in the southern Tafilalt region. It is exposed on an escarpment along the Algeria–Morocco border.
Cladocyclus is an extinct genus of marine ichthyodectiform fish from the middle Cretaceous. It was a predatory fish of about 1.20 metres (3.9 ft) in length.
Calamopleurus is an prehistoric genus of marine holostean ray-finned fish from the Early Cretaceous of South America and northern Africa. It was a relative of the modern bowfin, with both belonging to the family Amiidae.
Anomoeodus is an extinct genus of prehistoric marine ray-finned fish belonging to the family Pycnodontidae. This genus primarily lived during the mid-to-late Cretaceous period, ranging from the Albian to the very end of the Maastrichtian age, and possibly into the Danian. The first fossils of Anomoeodus were described by Louis Agassiz in 1833, although they were described under Pycnodus. Some studies have recovered it as a wastebasket taxon.
Coelodus is an extinct genus of marine and possibly freshwater pycnodont fish. It contains only one definitive species, C. saturnusHeckel, 1854, from the Late Cretaceous of Slovenia. Other species from the Late Jurassic to the Eocene have also been attributed to this genus based on isolated dental elements, but their assignment to Coelodus is uncertain, and this genus likely represents a non-monophyletic wastebasket taxon. A potential diagnostic trait is a prearticular tooth row with three regular highly elongated teeth.
Alanqa is a genus of pterodactyloid pterosaur from the Late Cretaceous period of what is now the Kem Kem Beds of southeastern Morocco. The name Alanqa comes from the Arabic word العنقاءal-‘Anqā’, for a mythical bird of Arabian culture.
The Oulad Abdoun Basin is a phosphate sedimentary basin located in Morocco, near the city of Khouribga. It is the largest in Morocco, comprising 44% of Morocco's phosphate reserves, and at least 26.8 billion tons of phosphate. It is also known as an important site for vertebrate fossils, with deposits ranging from the Late Cretaceous (Cenomanian-Turonian) to the Eocene epoch (Ypresian), a period of about 25 million years.
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.
This list of fossil fishes described in 2020 is a list of new taxa of jawless vertebrates, placoderms, acanthodians, fossil cartilaginous fishes, bony fishes, and other fishes of every kind that were described during the year 2020, as well as other significant discoveries and events related to paleoichthyology that occurred in 2020.
Nicorhynchus is a genus of anhanguerid pterosaur from the Cretaceous period. It contains two species, the type species, N. capito, from the Cambridge Greensand of England, and N. fluviferox from the Kem Kem Group of Morocco. These species were previously assigned to Coloborhynchus.
Gavialimimus is an extinct genus of plioplatecarpine mosasaur from the Maastrichtian of Morocco. The holotype MHNM.KHG.1231, an articulated skull and associated fragmentary postcrania, was found in the Ouled Abdoun Basin.
Xenodens is an extinct genus of marine lizard belonging to the mosasaur family. It currently contains a single species, X. calminechari, which is known from Late Maastrichtian phosphate deposits in the Ouled Abdoun Basin, Morocco. Its closest known relative is believed to be the durophagous Carinodens.
Oniichthys is an extinct genus of gar in the family Lepisosteidae. It contains a single species, O. falipoui, known from the Late Cretaceous (Cenomanian) of Morocco.
Grandemarinus is an extinct genus of gar from the Late Cretaceous of Morocco. It contains a single species, G. gherisensis. The genus name honors evolutionary biologist Lance Grande and references the species' apparent marine nature, while the specific epithet references Oued Gheris, a wadi near the type locality.
