''Canobius'' (named for Canobie, the district where it was discovered) is an extinct genus of marine

ray-finned fish Actinopterygii (; ), members of which are known as ray-finned fish or actinopterygians, is a class of bony fish that comprise over 50% of living vertebrate species. They are so called because of their lightly built fins made of webbings of sk ...

that lived in the early

Carboniferous The Carboniferous ( ) is a Geologic time scale, geologic period and System (stratigraphy), system of the Paleozoic era (geology), era that spans 60 million years, from the end of the Devonian Period Ma (million years ago) to the beginning of the ...

period (

Viséan The Visean, Viséan or Visian is an age in the ICS geologic timescale or a stage in the stratigraphic column. It is the second stage of the Mississippian, the lower subsystem of the Carboniferous. The Visean lasted from to Ma. It follows ...

) of Glencartholm, Scotland. Two species are known from fossil specimens: * †''C. elegantulus''

Traquair Traquair () is a small village and civil parishes in Scotland, civil parish in the Scottish Borders; Counties of Scotland, until 1975 it was in the county of Peeblesshire. The village is situated on the B709 road south of Innerleithen at . H ...

, 1881 * †''C. ramsayi'' Traquair, 1881 Potential indeterminate remains are known from the

Tournaisian The Tournaisian is in the ICS geologic timescale the lowest stage or oldest age of the Mississippian, the oldest subsystem of the Carboniferous. The Tournaisian age lasted from Ma to Ma. It is preceded by the Famennian (the uppermost st ...

Newfoundland and Labrador Newfoundland and Labrador is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region of Labrador, having a total size of . As of 2025 the populatio ...

, Canada. Many other species were previously referred to this genus, but have since been reclassified. ''Canobius'' was a small fish, in length. Compared with its earlier relatives, it had specialized jawbones and

hyomandibular The hyomandibula, commonly referred to as hyomandibular one(, from , "upsilon-shaped" (υ), and Latin: mandibula, "jawbone"), is a set of bones that is found in the hyoid region in most fishes. It usually plays a role in suspending the jaws and ...

s which attached the upper jaw to the braincase, meaning that the jaws were hung vertically under the braincase. This allowed ''Canobius'' to open its jaws wider and expand its gill slits further at the same time. In turn, this meant that the fish could take in more oxygen, making it a more active creature. ''Canobius'' is presumed to have fed on

plankton Plankton are the diverse collection of organisms that drift in Hydrosphere, water (or atmosphere, air) but are unable to actively propel themselves against ocean current, currents (or wind). The individual organisms constituting plankton are ca ...

which is filtered from the water using its small teeth and gills.

References

† A dagger, obelisk, or obelus is a typographical mark that usually indicates a footnote if an asterisk has already been used. The symbol is also used to indicate death (of people) or extinction (of species or languages). It is one of the mo ...

Prehistoric ray-finned fish genera Mississippian ray-finned fish of Europe Fossils of Scotland Viséan genera Fossil taxa described in 1881 {{Paleo-rayfinned-fish-stub