''Anenchelum'' (Greek for "not an

eel Eels are ray-finned fish belonging to the order Anguilliformes (), which consists of eight suborders, 20 families, 164 genera, and about 1000 species. Eels undergo considerable development from the early larval stage to the eventual adult stage ...

") 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 Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

cutlassfish The cutlassfishes are about 45 species of predatory ray-finned fish in the family Trichiuridae of the order Scombriformes found in seas throughout the world. Fish of this family are long, slender, and generally steely blue or silver in colour, ...

known from the

early Eocene In the geologic timescale the Ypresian is the oldest age (geology), age or lowest stage (stratigraphy), stratigraphic stage of the Eocene. It spans the time between , is preceded by the Thanetian Age (part of the Paleocene) and is followed by th ...

to the

late Miocene The Late Miocene (also known as Upper Miocene) is a sub-epoch of the Miocene epoch (geology), Epoch made up of two faunal stage, stages. The Tortonian and Messinian stages comprise the Late Miocene sub-epoch, which lasted from 11.63 Ma (million ye ...

. Several species are known that inhabited the northwestern Tethys and later

Paratethys The Paratethys sea, Paratethys ocean, Paratethys realm or just Paratethys (meaning "beside Tethys"), was a large shallow inland sea that covered much of mainland Europe and parts of western Asia during the middle to late Cenozoic, from the lat ...

region, centered around east-central Europe and west Asia. This genus was synonymized with the extant ''

Lepidopus ''Lepidopus'' is a genus of cutlassfishes. Fossil record These fishes lived from the Oligocene to Quaternary (from 33.9 to 1.806 million years ago). Fossils have been found in Italy, Cyprus, Greece, Azerbaijan, the Czech Republic, Germany and H ...

'' for a time before being revived as a distinct genus in 1995.

Taxonomy

The following species are known: * †''Anenchelum angustum'' Daniltshenko, 1980 -

Early Oligocene The Rupelian is, in the geologic timescale, the older of two age (geology), ages or the lower of two stage (stratigraphy), stages of the Oligocene epoch (geology), Epoch/series (stratigraphy), Series. It spans the time between . It is preceded b ...

Adygea Adygea ( ), officially the Republic of Adygea or the Adygean Republic, is a republics of Russia, republic of Russia. It is situated in the North Caucasus of Eastern Europe. The republic is a part of the Southern Federal District, and covers an a ...

, Russia ( Khadum Formation), potentially

Baden-Württemberg Baden-Württemberg ( ; ), commonly shortened to BW or BaWü, is a states of Germany, German state () in Southwest Germany, east of the Rhine, which forms the southern part of Germany's western border with France. With more than 11.07 million i ...

, Germany ( Raunberg Lagerstätte) * †''Anenchelum eocaenicum'' Daniltshenko, 1962 - Middle

Eocene The Eocene ( ) is a geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 56 to 33.9 million years ago (Ma). It is the second epoch of the Paleogene Period (geology), Period in the modern Cenozoic Era (geology), Era. The name ''Eocene'' comes ...

(

Lutetian The Lutetian is, in the geologic timescale, a stage (stratigraphy), stage or age (geology), age in the Eocene. It spans the time between . The Lutetian is preceded by the Ypresian and is followed by the Bartonian. Together with the Bartonian it ...

) of

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

( Dabakhan Formation) * †''Anenchelum glarisianum''

de Blainville Henri Marie Ducrotay de Blainville (; 12 September 1777 – 1 May 1850) was a French zoologist and anatomist. Life Blainville was born at Arques, near Dieppe. As a young man, he went to Paris to study art, but ultimately devoted himself to natur ...

, 1818 (

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 ...

) - Early Oligocene of Canton Glarus, Switzerland (

Matt Formation The Matt Formation is an Early Oligocene-aged marine geological formation that outcrops in the Glarus Alps of the Canton of Glarus, Switzerland. It is most notable for its fossiliferous slates found near Engi, known as the Engi slates, Glarner Sch ...

), the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...

( Menilitic Formation) &

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

, and the early to late

Miocene The Miocene ( ) is the first epoch (geology), geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about (Ma). The Miocene was named by Scottish geologist Charles Lyell; the name comes from the Greek words (', "less") and (', "new") and mea ...

Crete Crete ( ; , Modern Greek, Modern: , Ancient Greek, Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the List of islands by area, 88th largest island in the world and the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, fifth la ...

, Greece and the Czech Republic * †''Anenchelum lednevi'' Menner, 1949 - Early Miocene of

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan, officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, is a Boundaries between the continents, transcontinental and landlocked country at the boundary of West Asia and Eastern Europe. It is a part of the South Caucasus region and is bounded by ...

* †''Anenchelum paucivertebrale'' Bannikov & Parin, 1995 - Middle Eocene (

Bartonian The Bartonian is, in the International Commission on Stratigraphy's (ICS) geologic time scale, a stage or age in the middle of the Eocene Epoch or Series. The Bartonian Age spans the time between . It is preceded by the Lutetian and is follow ...

) of

Krasnodar Krasnodar, formerly Yekaterinodar (until 1920), is the largest city and the administrative centre of Krasnodar Krai, Russia. The city stands on the Kuban River in southern Russia, with a population of 1,154,885 residents, and up to 1.263 millio ...

, Russia (

Kuma Formation Kuma or KUMA may refer to: Characters * Kuma, a bear, also known as Teddie in English localization of ''Persona 4'' * Kuma (''Tekken''), father and son characters of the same name in the ''Tekken'' franchise * Kuma Lisa, an archetypal character ...

)

Anenchelum glarisianum 34 maf olig romania

The species '' Lepidopus brevicauda'' from Switzerland and '' Lepidopus hungaricus'' from Hungary may also be classified into this genus, but further research is necessary. Indeterminate remains of ''Anenchelum'' are known from the

Early Eocene In the geologic timescale the Ypresian is the oldest age (geology), age or lowest stage (stratigraphy), stratigraphic stage of the Eocene. It spans the time between , is preceded by the Thanetian Age (part of the Paleocene) and is followed by th ...

of Italy ( Chiusole Formation) and the Early Oligocene of Poland.

Ecology

''Anenchelum'' was a predatory fish that likely fed on other fish, like its modern relatives. A specimen of ''A. glarisianum'' from the

contained fossil remains of extinct

hake Hake is the common name for fish in the Merlucciidae family of the northern and southern oceans and the Phycidae family of the northern oceans. Hake is a commercially important fish in the same taxonomic order, Gadiformes, as cod and haddo ...

'' Merluccius latus'' in its stomach cavity, and fish remains were also recorded in the stomach cavity of an individual from Switzerland. Uniquely, a fossilized individual of ''A. glarisianum'' from the Menilitic Formation of the Czech Republic shows evidence of

cannibalism Cannibalism is the act of consuming another individual of the same species as food. Cannibalism is a common ecological interaction in the animal kingdom and has been recorded in more than 1,500 species. Human cannibalism is also well document ...

, potentially due to an ecological imbalance in the habitat at the time. ''Anenchelum'' itself fell prey to other animals in its ecosystem; a small individual of ''A. angustum'' from Russia is preserved next to the fossilized imprint of a ''

Loligo ''Loligo'' is a genus of squid and one of the most representative and widely distributed groups of myopsid squid. The genus was first described by Jean Baptiste Lamarck in 1798. However, the name had been used earlier than Lamarck ( Schneider, ...

'' squid, which appears to have attempted to prey on it before both were fossilized; this specimen is notable for being the first squid body fossil known.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q107271002 Trichiuridae Prehistoric percomorph genera Paleogene fish of Europe Neogene fish of Europe Miocene fish of Asia Ypresian genus first appearances Lutetian genera Bartonian genera Rupelian genera Burdigalian genera Tortonian genus extinctions Fossils of Italy Fossils of Switzerland Fossils of Germany Fossils of Poland Fossils of the Czech Republic Fossils of Romania Fossils of Greece Fossils of Russia Fossils of Georgia (country) Fossils of Azerbaijan Fossil taxa described in 1818 Taxa named by Henri Marie Ducrotay de Blainville