Sorbinichthys

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Sorbinichthys
Temporal range: Cenomanian
Sorbinichthyidae - Sorbinichthys elusivo.JPG
Sorbinichthys elusivo
Scientific classification
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Sorbinichthys

Bannikov & Bacchia, 2000
Species
  • †S. elusivo
  • †S. africanus

Sorbinichthys is an extinct genus of clupeomorph bony fish from the Cenomanian of Lebanon and Morocco.

Contents

Classification

Sorbinichthys was described for the first time in 2000 by Bannikov and Bacchia and, on the basis of specimens found in Lebanon, in the En Nammoura. These specimens were designated as S. elusivo, the type species, was placed in a newly erected family Sorbinichthyidae. Similar fossils from Morocco were described as the species S. africanus, in 2011 .

Sorbinichthys belongs to the Ellimmichthyiformes, a group of bony fish closely related to herring and sardines, that lived from the Cretaceous until the Eocene.

Description

The genus contains two species, S. elusivo (found in Lebanon) and S. africanus (from Morocco). The Lebanese species could reach a length of over 15 cm, while S. africanus was smaller and reaching a length of about 5 cm. Sorbinichthys had a body high and narrow, and was equipped with a tip radius of the second dorsal very long (longer in S. elusivo than in S. africanus).

The scales were diamond-shaped, and along the dorsal edge of the back were diamond-shaped scutes. The dorsal, caudal, pelvic and pectoral fins either had, or, in the case of the pectoral fins, were modified into long filaments. These filaments were visible in the original fossils only until after preparation was completed, hence the specific epithet elusivo ("hidden"), referring to how the long, delicate filaments were not discovered until afterwards.

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<i>Caranx</i> Genus of fishes

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<i>Synodontis caudalis</i> Species of fish

Synodontis caudalis, known as the filament tailed synodontis, or the whiptail synodontis, is a species of upside-down catfish native to the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It was first described by Belgian-British zoologist George Albert Boulenger in 1899, from specimens collected in what is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The species name caudalis comes from the Latin word cauda, meaning tail, and refers to the elongated filaments in the caudal fin of the species.

<i>Synodontis omias</i> Species of fish

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<i>Synodontis resupinatus</i> Species of fish

Synodontis resupinatus is a species of upside-down catfish that is native to the Niger basin and the Bénoué River of Cameroon, Mali, and Nigeria. It was first described by British-Belgian zoologist George Albert Boulenger in 1904, from specimens obtained near Lokoja, Nigeria.

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Synodontis tanganyicae is a species of upside-down catfish endemic to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Zambia, and Tanzania, where it is only known from Lake Tanganyika. It was first described by Russian-American ichthyologist Nikolai Andreyevich Borodin in 1936, from specimens collected at Kasaga, in what is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The species name tanganyicae comes from the habitat of the species, Lake Tanganyika.

<i>Synodontis melanostictus</i> Species of fish

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Synodontis irsacae is a species of upside-down catfish endemic to Zambia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Tanzania, where it is only known from Lake Tanganyika. It was first described by Belgian ichthyologist Hubert Matthes in 1959, from specimens collected from Lake Tanganyika at Kalundu, in what is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The species name " irsacae" is derived from the abbreviation "I.R.S.A.C.", or Institut pour la Recherche Scientifique en Afrique Centrale. For many years, specimens of the species were considered to be juvenile members of S. dhonti, but in 2006, J.J. Wright and L.M. Page identified unique characteristics of this species that established that they were a unique species.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tselfatiiformes</span> Extinct order of ray-finned fishes

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Wakinoichthys is a small freshwater fish from the Early Cretaceous of South Korea and Japan. Two species are currently known: W. aokii and W. robustus.

<i>Pentanogmius</i> Extinct genus of fishes

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