''Dorsetichthys'' is an

extinct Extinction is the termination of an organism by the death of its Endling, last member. A taxon may become Functional extinction, functionally extinct before the death of its last member if it loses the capacity to Reproduction, reproduce and ...

genus of marine stem-

teleost Teleostei (; Ancient Greek, Greek ''teleios'' "complete" + ''osteon'' "bone"), members of which are known as teleosts (), is, by far, the largest group of ray-finned fishes (class Actinopterygii), with 96% of all neontology, extant species of f ...

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 ...

from the

Early Jurassic The Early Jurassic Epoch (geology), Epoch (in chronostratigraphy corresponding to the Lower Jurassic series (stratigraphy), Series) is the earliest of three epochs of the Jurassic Period. The Early Jurassic starts immediately after the Triassic� ...

period of Europe. It contains a single species, ''D. bechei'', known from the

Sinemurian In the geologic timescale, the Sinemurian is an age (geology), age and stage (stratigraphy), stage in the Early Jurassic, Early or Lower Jurassic epoch (geology), Epoch or series (stratigraphy), Series. It spans the time between 199.5 ±0.3 annu ...

-aged

Lower Lias The Lias Group or Lias is a lithostratigraphic unit (a sequence of rock strata) found in a large area of western Europe, including the British Isles, the North Sea, the Low Countries and the north of Germany. It consists of marine limestones, sh ...

of England.

Description

''Dorsetichthys'' was an elongated teleost that could reach up to long. This fish had

ganoid A fish scale is a small rigid plate that grows out of the skin of a fish. The skin of most jawed fishes is covered with these protective scales, which can also provide effective camouflage through the use of reflection and colouration, as w ...

scales close to modern

gar Gars are an ancient group of ray-finned fish in the family Lepisosteidae. They comprise seven living species of fish in two genera that inhabit fresh, brackish, and occasionally marine waters of eastern North America, Central America and Cuba ...

Taxonomy

The type species of ''Dorsetichthys'', ''D. bechei'', was formerly assigned to ''

Pholidophorus ''Pholidophorus'' (from , 'horny scale' and , 'to bear') is an extinct genus of Stem group, stem-teleost fish. Numerous species were assigned to this genus in the past, but only the type species ''Pholidophorus latiusculus'', from the Late Tria ...

'', but Arratia (2013) recognized it as generically distinct from the ''Pholidophorus'' type species, placing it in the new family Dorsetichthyidae and new order Dorsetichthyiformes. Cladogram of Teleosteomorpha after Sferco et al. 2021:

References

Monotypic prehistoric ray-finned fish genera Jurassic bony fish Early Jurassic fish Jurassic fish of Europe Sinemurian genera Fossils of England Fossil taxa described in 2013 {{Jurassic-fish-stub