''Cimolichthys'' is an extinct

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial n ...

of 1.5- to 2.0-meter-long nektonic predatory aulopiformid

fish Fish are aquatic, craniate, gill-bearing animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish as well as various extinct related groups. Approximately 95% ...

Description

Although the closest living relatives of ''Cimolichthys'' are lancetfish and lizardfish, the living animals would have resembled very large freshwater pikes. Their bodies were covered by large, heavy scutes. Typical of this species are narrow lower jaws with several series of teeth. Remains of undigested fishes or squids have been found in collected specimens. They lived in the

Late Cretaceous The Late Cretaceous (100.5–66 Ma) is the younger 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 ''creta'', ...

period, from the Cenomanian age (99.6 ± 0.9 Mya and 93.5 ± 0.8 Mya) to the

Maastrichtian The Maastrichtian () is, in the ICS geologic timescale, the latest age (uppermost stage) of the Late Cretaceous Epoch or Upper Cretaceous Series, the Cretaceous Period or System, and of the Mesozoic Era or Erathem. It spanned the interv ...

age (70.6 ± 0.6 Mya to 66 Mya).Cimolichthys nepaholica at Oceans of Kansas
/ref>

Distribution

Fossils of ''Cimolichthys'' are found in Cretaceous strata of North America (Canada and United States) and Europe.

Gallery

File:Cimolichthys.JPG , ''Cimolichthys'' at the Canadian Museum of Nature, Ottawa File: Cimolichthys nepaholica.png , Restoration of ''Cimolichthys nepaholica''.

References

*Sepkoski, Jac
Sepkoski's Online Genus Database
Aulopiformes Cretaceous bony fish Prehistoric ray-finned fish genera Late Cretaceous fish of North America Mooreville Chalk Fossil taxa described in 1857 Taxa named by Joseph Leidy {{Aulopiformes-stub