''Babelichthys'' is an extinct genus of

crestfish Crestfishes, family Lophotidae, are lampriform fishes found in most oceans. It consists of two extant and four extinct genera. They are elongated, ribbon-like fishes, silver in color, found in deep tropical and subtropical waters worldwide. Thei ...

from the ?

Late Eocene The Priabonian is, in the International Commission on Stratigraphy, ICS's geologic timescale, the latest age (geology), age or the upper stage (stratigraphy), stage of the Eocene epoch (geology), Epoch or series (stratigraphy), Series. It spans ...

-aged

Pabdeh Formation The Pabdeh Formation is a Eocene, Late Eocene to Rupelian, Early Oligocene-aged geological formation in Iran. It outcrops along the Zagros Mountains. It was deposited in a deepwater environment in the upper Bathypelagic zone, bathyal zone of the Par ...

Western Iran Western Iran consists of Armenian Highlands, northern Zagros and the rich agricultural area of the Khuzestan Plain in the south. It includes the provinces of Kordestan, Kermanshah Province, Kermanshah, Ilam Province, Ilam, Lorestan, and Hamadan ...

. It contains a single species, ''Babelichthys olneyi''. The type specimen was initially figured by

Camille Arambourg Camille Arambourg (February 3, 1885 – November 19, 1969) was a French vertebrate paleontologist. He conducted extensive field work in North Africa. In the 1950s, he argued against the prevailing model of Neanderthals as brutish and simian. Du ...

as a second, poorly-preserved specimen of the co-occurring crestfish '' Protolophotus'', but in 2017 it was identified as its own distinct taxon. The single known specimen consists of a head and the front-most region of the dorsal fin, preserving the extremely elongated and enlarged first dorsal-fin ray. It has been inferred that ''Babelichthys'' had a highly elongated "crest" at the front of its dorsal fin that projected horizontally forwards like a horn, akin to that of the extant unicorn crestfish (''Eumecichthys fiski'') but even larger and more elongated. It and the unicorn crestfish are each other's closest known relatives. However, some studies find Lophotidae to be

paraphyletic Paraphyly is a taxonomic term describing a grouping that consists of the grouping's last common ancestor and some but not all of its descendant lineages. The grouping is said to be paraphyletic ''with respect to'' the excluded subgroups. In co ...

, and place ''Babelichthys'' as an indeterminate taeniosome.

Etymology

The genus name ''Babelichthys'' literally translates to “Babel fish” in Greek, named after the teleost-like, ear-dwelling, polyglot extraterrestrial species from ''

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'' is a comedy science fiction franchise created by Douglas Adams. Originally a radio sitcom broadcast over two series on BBC Radio 4 between 1978 and 1980, it was soon adapted to other formats, inclu ...

'', as a reference to the very peculiar, almost alien-like, appearance of the genus. The species name "''olneyi''" is named after John E. Olney for his work on the anatomy and ontogeny of

Lampriformes Lampriformes is an order (biology), order of Actinopterygii, ray-finned fish. Members are collectively called lamprids (which is more properly used for the Opah, Lampridae) or lampriforms, and unite such open-ocean and partially Deep sea, deep-s ...

References

{{taxonbar, from=Q122782192 Lophotidae Monotypic prehistoric ray-finned fish genera Priabonian genera Eocene fish of Asia Fossils of Iran Fossil taxa described in 2017