''Carpathichthys'' ("
Carpathian
The Carpathian Mountains or Carpathians () are a range of mountains forming an arc across Central Europe. Roughly long, it is the third-longest European mountain range after the Urals at and the Scandinavian Mountains at . The range stretches ...
fish") is an extinct genus of prehistoric
slickhead
Slickheads, also known as nakedheads or smoothheads, are deep water fishes that belong to the family Alepocephalidae. They are most commonly found in the bathypelagic layer, which is approximately 3000m below the surface. They get their name from ...
fish from the
Oligocene
The Oligocene ( ) is a geologic epoch of the Paleogene Period and extends from about 33.9 million to 23 million years before the present ( to ). As with other older geologic periods, the rock beds that define the epoch are well identified but the ...
. It contains a single species, ''C. polonicus'', from the
Menilite Formation in the
Carpathian Flysch Belt of
Poland, in what was formerly the
Paratethys Sea
The Paratethys sea, Paratethys ocean, Paratethys realm or just Paratethys was a large shallow inland sea that stretched from the region north of the Alps over Central Europe to the Aral Sea in Central Asia.
Paratethys was peculiar due to its pal ...
.
It is one of the very few known fossil slickheads, a group of
ray-finned fishes that are assumed to have ancient origins, but have almost no presence in the geological record, likely due to their preference for deep-water habitats. The only other known fossil slickhead is an indeterminate member of ''
Bathyprion'' from the same formation, indicating that it was likely deposited in an abyssal habitat.
''Carpathichthys'' appears to be closely related to the extant genus ''
Rouleina
''Rouleina'' is a genus of slickheads. The genus is named for the ichthyologist Louis Roule.
Species
There are currently 10 recognized species in this genus:
* '' Rouleina attrita'' ( Vaillant, 1888) (Softskin smooth-head)
* '' Rouleina danae'' ...
''.
See also
*
Prehistoric fish
*
List of prehistoric bony fish
A ''list'' is any set of items in a row. List or lists may also refer to:
People
* List (surname)
Organizations
* List College
Albert A. List College of Jewish Studies, known simply as List College, is the undergraduate school of the J ...
References
External links
Bony fish in the online Sepkoski Database
Alepocephalidae
Prehistoric ray-finned fish genera
Oligocene fish
Paleogene fish of Europe
Fossils of Poland
Rupelian genera
Fossil taxa described in 1979
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