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I was browsing on eBay and I found this interesting fossil. Does anyone know anything about this genus, or even what family it belongs to? It looks curiously like modern-day Characoid hatchetfish of the family Gasteropelecidae, though I doubt they are related. Unfortunately, I couldn't really find any information about this genus online. Maybe someone has some books on ancient fish?

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I'm not your neighbor, you Bakersfield trash.

Hi,
I've not found this fish described either. I did find
a somewhat similiar, newly discovered fossil but it was
Cretaceous, and from Morocco. In the natative, they
said it was unstudied and not yet named.

Frank


-->>> The Confidence of Amateurs, is the Envy of Professionals <<<--

The fish in the link is from the Cretaceous and found in Morocco.

If this is the same fish, I wonder why the one in the link already has a genus name. Perhaps it has been at least partially described by scientists? Where did you read about the other fossil?

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I'm not your neighbor, you Bakersfield trash.

The genus is actually mispelled, which is why your searches aren't getting anything; it's actually Triplomystus, a genus erected in 2003. It's from an extinct family known as Paraclupeidae, which puts it as a somewhat distant relative of herrings; they are in the same superorder Clupeomorpha. To put that relationship into perspective, cyprinids, characins, knifefishes, and catfishes also are in a superorder (Ostariophysi), and we all know how dissimilar these types of fish are...

Here's a link to the abstract of the paper they were described:
http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=187879

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The aquarist is one who must learn the ways of the biologist, the chemist, and the veterinarian.