''Enchelurus'' (Greek for "eel tail") is an extinct genus of prehistoric 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 during the

Late Cretaceous The Late Cretaceous (100.5–66 Ma) is the more recent of two epochs into which the Cretaceous Period is divided in the geologic time scale. Rock strata from this epoch form the Upper Cretaceous Series. The Cretaceous is named after ''cre ...

. It contains three species, known from the

Cenomanian The Cenomanian is, in the International Commission on Stratigraphy's (ICS) geological timescale, the oldest or earliest age (geology), age of the Late Cretaceous epoch (geology), Epoch or the lowest stage (stratigraphy), stage of the Upper Cretace ...

Campanian The Campanian is the fifth of six ages of the Late Cretaceous epoch on the geologic timescale of the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS). In chronostratigraphy, it is the fifth of six stages in the Upper Cretaceous Series. Campa ...

of Europe and the Middle East. The following species are known: * ''E. anglicus'' Woodward, 1901 - mid-late Cenomanian of England ( English Chalk) * ''E. syriacus'' Woodward, 1901 -

Santonian The Santonian is an age in the geologic timescale or a chronostratigraphic stage. It is a subdivision of the Late Cretaceous Epoch or Upper Cretaceous Series. It spans the time between 86.3 ± 0.7 mya ( million years ago) and 83.6 ± 0.7 m ...

of Lebanon (

Sahel Alma Sahel Alma () is a village located in the Keserwan District of the Keserwan-Jbeil Governorate in Lebanon, it constitutes along with three other villages (Sarba, Haret Sakher and Ghadir) the area known as Jounieh. Sahel Alma is situated between the ...

) * ''E. villosus'' von der Marck, 1863 (

type species In International_Code_of_Zoological_Nomenclature, zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the spe ...

) - Campanian of Germany ( Baumberge Formation) Its taxonomic affinity remains uncertain; it was initially classified as an early

halosaur Halosaurs are eel-shaped fishes found only at great ocean depths. As the family Halosauridae, halosaurs are one of two families within the order Notacanthiformes; the other being the deep-sea spiny eels, Notacanthidae. Halosaurs are thought to h ...

in the order

Notacanthiformes The Notacanthiformes are an order of deep-sea ray-finned fishes, consisting of the families Halosauridae and Notacanthidae ( spiny eels). ''Fishes of the World'' (2006) lists it as the suborder Notacanthoidei of Albuliformes. The notacanthif ...

, and continues to be treated as such by some authorities. However, other studies have found it to be an elopomorph related to the common ancestor of

Anguilliformes Eels are ray-finned fish belonging to the order (biology), order Anguilliformes (), which consists of eight suborders, 20 Family (biology), families, 164 genus, genera, and about 1000 species. Eels undergo considerable development from the earl ...

and Notacanthiformes, or even an early anguilliform itself.

References

Elopomorpha Prehistoric ray-finned fish genera Cenomanian genus first appearances Santonian genera Campanian genus extinctions Late Cretaceous fish of Asia Cretaceous fish of Europe Fossils of England Fossils of Lebanon Fossils of Germany Fossil taxa described in 1863 {{Cretaceous-fish-stub