''Ardiodus'' is an extinct genus of prehistoric marine scombroid fish from the late

Paleocene The Paleocene ( ), or Palaeocene, is a geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 66 to 56 mya (unit), million years ago (mya). It is the first epoch of the Paleogene Period (geology), Period in the modern Cenozoic Era (geology), ...

(

Thanetian The Thanetian is, in the International Commission on Stratigraphy, ICS Geologic timescale, the latest age (geology), age or uppermost stage (stratigraphy), stratigraphic stage of the Paleocene epoch (geology), Epoch or series (stratigraphy), Serie ...

) to the early

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 ...

(

Ypresian 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 ...

). It contains a single known species, ''A. mariotti'' from the

London Clay The London Clay Formation is a Sediment#Shores and shallow seas, marine formation (geology), geological formation of Ypresian (early Eocene Epoch, c. 54-50 million years ago) age which outcrop, crops out in the southeast of England. The London C ...

formation of the United Kingdom and the

Ouled Abdoun Basin The Oulad Abdoun Basin (also known as the Ouled Abdoun Basin or Khouribga Basin) is a phosphate sedimentary basin located in Morocco, near the city of Khouribga. It is the largest in Morocco, comprising 44% of Morocco's phosphate reserves, and at ...

of Morocco. It is only known from its teeth, which show similarities to

Gempylidae The Gempylidae are a family of scombriform ray-finned fishes commonly known as snake mackerels or escolars. The family includes about 25 species. They are elongated fishes with a similar appearance to barracudas, having a long dorsal fin, usuall ...

, Trichiuridae,

Scomberomorini Scomberomorini is a tribe of ray-finned, saltwater, bony fishes that is commonly known as Spanish mackerels, seerfishes, or seer fish. This tribe is a subset of the mackerel family (Scombridae), which it shares with four sister tribes, the tu ...

, and the extinct ''

Eocoelopoma ''Eocoelopoma'' (meaning "dawn hollow-cover" in Greek) is an extinct genus of prehistoric scombrid fish, related to mackerels and tunas, known from the Eocene of Eurasia. It contains several species known from the Early Eocene of England and Tu ...

''. Thus, it is likely to be a scombroid, although its exact placement is uncertain.

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 ...

Monotypic prehistoric ray-finned fish genera Prehistoric percomorph genera Fossils of England Fossils of Morocco Paleogene fish of Europe Thanetian genus first appearances Ypresian extinctions Fossil taxa described in 1931 Taxa named by Errol White {{Scombroidei-stub