Ellimmichthyiformes

Ellimmichthyiformes is an extinct order of prehistoric bony fish that lived during the Lower Cretaceous to the Oligocene. It is related to the order Clupeiformes. They are also known as double-armored herrings.

This lineage was ultimately demolished by the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event. The last genus, Guiclupea, was a freshwater fish. It was also the youngest of them all.

 Description 
The ellimmichthyiforms were small and most genera did not exceed 10 cm. One of the most famous and well-known genera was Diplomystus. Some of the representatives had strange shapes. For example, Rhombichthys had a deep body.

 Families and genera 

 Suborder †Armigatoidei
 Family †Armigatidae
 Genus †Armigatus
 Genus †Diplomystus
 Genus †Guiclupea
 Genus †Horseshoeichthys
 Suborder †Ellimmichthyoidei
 Family †Paraclupeidae
 Genus †Caboellimma
 Genus †Codoichthys
 Genus †Ellimma
 Genus †Ellimmichthys
 Genus †Eoellimmichthys
 Genus †Foreyclupea
 Genus †Ezkutuberezi
 Genus †Kwangoclupea
 Genus †Paraclupea
 Genus †Ranulfoichthys
 Genus †Rhombichthys
 Genus †Scutatoclupea
 Genus †Scutatuspinosus
 Genus †Thorectichthys
 Genus †Tunisiaclupea
 Genus †Tycheroichthys
 Suborder †Sorbinichthyoidei
 Family †Sorbinichthyidae
 Genus †Sorbinichthys
 Family †Gasteroclupeidae
 Genus †Gasteroclupea

 Notable genera 

 Diplomystus 
Diplomystus is possibly the most famous genus of the Ellimmichthyiformes. It was a freshwater fish. It had seven species.

 Rhombichthys 
Rhombichthys was a bizarre-looking fish. It had a very deep body because of its high dorsal fin.

 Armigatus 
Armigatus lived during the Cretaceous. It means "bearer of armor". It did not exceed 10 cm in length.

 Gasteroclupea 
Gasteroclupea resembled a fish of the genus Pristigaster. This was mainly due to convergent evolution, so it is not related to Pristigaster.

 Image gallery 

 Related pages 

 Australosomus
 Scombriformes
 Acanthopleurus
 Helicoprion
 Cretalamna
 Onchopristis
 Sclerorhynchoidei
 Pachycormiformes

 References 

 Márcia Aparecida dos Reis Polck, Valéria Gallo, Francisco J. de Figuieredo, Samuel Magalhães Viana, Viviane Sampaio Santiago dos Santos, João Villar de Queiroz Neto, Ricardo Jorge Jahnert (March 2020). "†Ellimma longipectoralis sp. nov. (Teleostei: Clupeomorpha: †Ellimmichthyiformes) from the Aptian of the Santos Basin, southeastern Brazil". ScienceDirect.

Category:Extinct fish