# Enchelion > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Enchelion > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Enchelion.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enchelion > Source revision: 1336154524 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{Short description|Extinct genus of fishes}} {{Speciesbox | fossil_range = {{fossilrange|95|93.5|Upper [Cenomanian](/source/Cenomanian){{cite journal|last=Sepkoski |first=Jack |title=A compendium of fossil marine animal genera |journal=Bulletins of American Paleontology |volume=363 |pages=1–560 |year=2002 |url=http://strata.ummp.lsa.umich.edu/jack/showgenera.php?taxon=611&rank=class |accessdate=2009-02-27 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110723131237/http://strata.ummp.lsa.umich.edu/jack/showgenera.php?taxon=611&rank=class |archivedate=2011-07-23 }}}} | image = Enchelion montium.jpg | image_caption = Fossil specimen | taxon = Enchelion montium | grandparent_authority = Hay, 1903 | parent_authority = Hay, 1903 | authority = [Hay](/source/Oliver_Perry_Hay), 1903 }} '''''Enchelion''''' (Greek for "little [eel](/source/eel)") is an extinct genus of prehistoric marine [ray-finned fish](/source/Actinopterygii) that lived during the [Late Cretaceous](/source/Late_Cretaceous). It contains a single species, '''''E. montium''''' known from the upper [Cenomanian](/source/Cenomanian) of the Haqel locality of the [Sannine Formation](/source/Sannine_Formation) in [Lebanon](/source/Lebanon).{{Cite book |last=Hay |first=Oliver Perry |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LqTK9yGcNREC |title=On Certain Genera and Species of North American Cretaceous Actinopterous Fishes |date=1903 |publisher=order of the Trustees, American Museum of Natural History |language=en}} It is the only member of the family '''Encheliidae'''''.''{{Cite journal |last=Laan |first=Richard van der |date=2018-10-11 |title=Family-group names of fossil fishes |url=https://europeanjournaloftaxonomy.eu/index.php/ejt/article/view/597 |journal=European Journal of Taxonomy |language=en |issue=466 |doi=10.5852/ejt.2018.466 |issn=2118-9773|doi-access=free }} left|thumb|Specimen of ''Enchelion'' sp. [[File:Eurypholis and Enchelion.jpg|thumb|Specimen with ''[Eurypholis](/source/Eurypholis)'']] It has a small but extremely elongate appearance reminiscent of an eel, but its taxonomic affinities are uncertain, making it hard to classify. It has a unique diplospondylous (two vertebrae in each segment) vertebral column that is unseen in any modern [teleost](/source/teleost) fish aside from the contemporaneous, enigmatic freshwater ''[Diplospondichthys](/source/Diplospondichthys)'' from the [Kem Kem Beds](/source/Kem_Kem_Group) in Morocco. Uniquely, it also has no evidence of fins or fin rays, a trait shared with ''Diplospondichthys''; however, these two genera differ in jaw morphology.{{Cite journal |last1=Filleul |first1=Arnaud |last2=Dutheil |first2=Didier B. |date=2004-06-11 |title=A peculiar diplospondylous actinopterygian fish from the Cretaceous of Morocco |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1671/3004 |journal=Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology |volume=24 |issue=2 |pages=290–298 |doi=10.1671/3004 |bibcode=2004JVPal..24..290F |issn=0272-4634|url-access=subscription }}{{Cite thesis |last=Espíndola |first=Vinícius Corrêa |title=Phylogenetic relationship of the Anguilliformes (Teleostei: Elopomorpha) with an emphasis in cephalic morphology |date=2019-08-28 |degree=text |publisher=Universidade de São Paulo |url=https://www.teses.usp.br/teses/disponiveis/38/38131/tde-05122019-103045/en.php |language=en}} Some authors have suggested it may represent the earliest known representative of the [Saccopharyngoidei](/source/Saccopharyngoidei), but this is disputed.{{Cite journal |last=Belouze |first=Anne |date=2002 |title=Compréhension morphologique et phylogénétique des taxons actuels et fossiles rapportés aux anguilliformes («poissons», téléostéens) |url=https://www.persee.fr/doc/geoly_0750-6635_2002_mon_158_1 |journal=Travaux et Documents des Laboratoires de Géologie de Lyon |volume=158 |issue=1 |pages=3–401}}{{Cite journal |last1=Belouze |first1=Anne |last2=Gayet |first2=Mireille |last3=Atallah |first3=Claude |date=2003-07-01 |title=Les premiers Anguilliformes : II. Paraphylie du genre Urenchelys WOODWARD, 1900 et relations phylogénétiques |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0016699503000366 |journal=Geobios |volume=36 |issue=4 |pages=351–378 |doi=10.1016/S0016-6995(03)00036-6 |bibcode=2003Geobi..36..351B |issn=0016-6995|url-access=subscription }}{{Cite journal |last1=Pfaff |first1=Cathrin |last2=Zorzin |first2=Roberto |last3=Kriwet |first3=Jürgen |date=2016-08-11 |title=Evolution of the locomotory system in eels (Teleostei: Elopomorpha) |journal=BMC Evolutionary Biology |language=en |volume=16 |issue=1 |pages=159 |doi=10.1186/s12862-016-0728-7 |doi-access=free |issn=1471-2148 |pmc=4981956 |pmid=27514517|bibcode=2016BMCEE..16..159P }} ==See also== {{Portal|Paleontology|Fish}} * [Prehistoric fish](/source/Prehistoric_fish) * [List of prehistoric bony fish](/source/List_of_prehistoric_bony_fish) ==References== {{Reflist}} {{Taxonbar|from=Q5375411}} {{paleo-rayfinned-fish-stub}} {{Cretaceous-fish-stub}} {{Anguilliformes-stub}} Category:Monotypic prehistoric ray-finned fish genera † Category:Late Cretaceous fish of Asia Category:Cenomanian genera Category:Late Cretaceous bony fish Category:Fossils of Lebanon Category:Fossil taxa described in 1903 Category:Taxa named by Oliver Perry Hay --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Enchelion](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enchelion) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enchelion?action=history)). 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