''Chondrenchelys'' is an extinct genus of

cartilaginous fish Chondrichthyes (; ) is a class of jawed fish that contains the cartilaginous fish or chondrichthyans, which all have skeletons primarily composed of cartilage. They can be contrasted with the Osteichthyes or ''bony fish'', which have skeleto ...

and the earliest member of

Holocephali Holocephali (Sometimes spelled Holocephala; Romanization of Greek, Greek for "complete head" in reference to the fusion of Palatoquadrate, upper jaw with the rest of the skull) is a Subclass (biology), subclass of Chondrichthyes, cartilaginous fi ...

known from complete skeletons. ''Chondrenchelys'' would have been quite a relatively medium-sized fish with an elongated body up to in length, it had a dorsal fin which was indeed long and a body which tapered to a point. ''Chondrenchelys'' had one large pair, one middle-sized pair, and three small pair of tooth plates in each jaw. The genus name derives from the Greek word ''χόνδρος'', meaning “gristle” or “cartilage”, and ''ἔγχελυς'', meaning “eel”. The speciea name, ''problematicus'', is likely derived from the lack of scales setting it apart from all other fish known at the time of discovery.

References

Monotypic prehistoric cartilaginous fish genera Fossils of Great Britain {{paleo-holocephalan-stub Carboniferous cartilaginous fish

See also

References