''Caproberyx'' 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 ...

of marine acanthomorph

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 ...

, possibly a holocentrid, from 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 a single species, ''C. superbus'', from the early to late

Turonian The Turonian is, in the International Commission on Stratigraphy, ICS' geologic timescale, the second age (geology), age in the Late Cretaceous epoch (geology), Epoch, or a stage (stratigraphy), stage in the Upper Cretaceous series (stratigraphy), ...

of the English Chalk. Other former species found in

Lebanon Lebanon, officially the Republic of Lebanon, is a country in the Levant region of West Asia. Situated at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian Peninsula, it is bordered by Syria to the north and east, Israel to the south ...

(''C. pharsus'') and

Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...

(''C. polydesmus'') have been assigned to their own genera ('' Pattersonoberyx'' and '' Stichoberyx'' respectively). Potential remains of an indeterminate species have also been found in the Smoky Hill Chalk of

Kansas Kansas ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the west. Kansas is named a ...

, USA. The fossil of a similar fish is also known from the Mancos Shale of

New Mexico New Mexico is a state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States. It is one of the Mountain States of the southern Rocky Mountains, sharing the Four Corners region with Utah, Colorado, and Arizona. It also ...

, USA. Previously considered a berycid, it has more recently often been considered an early holocentrid, making it related to squirrelfishes and soldierfishes. However, more recent studies have recovered it as an indeterminate acanthomorph, and possibly most closely related to the

Trachichthyiformes The Trachichthyiformes are an order of ray-finned fishes in the superorder Acanthopterygii. Fossils of this group date back to the Cenomanian. Member genera include the flashlight fishes, fangtooth fishes, spinyfins, pineconefishes, redfishes, ...

. The species name ''superbus'' references the exceptional nature of some specimens, consisting of three-dimensionally preserved mass death assemblages with mouths open in tetany. Such specimens may be the result of rapid burial following these mass mortalities.

References

* ''

Fishes of the World ''Fishes of the World'' is a standard reference for the systematics of fishes. It was first written in 1976 by the American ichthyologist Joseph S. Nelson (1937–2011). Now in its fifth edition (2016), the work is a comprehensive overview of t ...

'' by Joseph S. Nelson * ''Kansas Geology: An Introduction to Landscapes, Rocks, Minerals, and Fossils'' by Rex Buchanan † Prehistoric ray-finned fish genera Late Cretaceous bony fish Cretaceous fish of Europe Late Cretaceous fish of North America Fossils of England Fossils of the United States Natural history of Kansas Turonian genera Fossil taxa described in 1911 {{beryciformes-stub Taxa named by Charles Tate Regan