''Caeus'' is an extinct genus of prehistoric marine

ray-finned fish Actinopterygii (; ), members of which are known as ray-finned fishes, is a class of bony fish. They comprise over 50% of living vertebrate species. The ray-finned fishes are so called because their fins are webs of skin supported by bony or h ...

, closely related to the modern

milkfish The milkfish (''Chanos chanos'') is the sole living species in the family Chanidae. However, there are at least five extinct genera from the Cretaceous. The repeating scientific name ( tautonym) is from Greek ( ‘mouth’). The species has ma ...

. It contains a single species, ''C. leopoldi'' from the

Early Cretaceous The Early Cretaceous (geochronological name) or the Lower Cretaceous ( chronostratigraphic name), is the earlier or lower of the two major divisions of the Cretaceous. It is usually considered to stretch from 145 Ma to 100.5 Ma. Geology Pr ...

of the Pietraroja Plattenkalk, Italy. It is one of the largest teleosts known from the Pietraroja formation, and is known by only a single specimen. It was first described as a genus without a species in 1857, before being officially described as a proper species in 1860. Some authorities have placed it as a species of the modern genus '' Chanos'', but further studies have affirmed it as being a distinct genus. It is thought to be phylogenetically intermediate between '' Parachanos'' and '' Dastilbe''.

References

External links

Bony fish in the online Sepkoski Database
Chanidae Prehistoric ray-finned fish genera Early Cretaceous bony fish Early Cretaceous fish of Europe Albian genera Fossils of Italy Taxa named by Oronzio Gabriele Costa Fossil taxa described in 1857 {{paleo-rayfinned-fish-stub

See also

References

External links