Carpathichthys Temporal range:
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Scientific classification ![]() | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Actinopterygii |
Order: | Alepocephaliformes |
Family: | Alepocephalidae |
Genus: | †Carpathichthys Jerzmanska, 1979 |
Species: | †C. polonicus
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Binomial name | |
†Carpathichthys polonicus Jerzmanska, 1979
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Carpathichthys ("Carpathian fish") is an extinct genus of prehistoric slickhead fish from the Oligocene. 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.[1][2]
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.[3] 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.[2][4] Carpathichthys appears to be closely related to the extant genus Rouleina.[2]