Blochius

Blochius is an extinct genus of billfish from the Eocene. It is only known from the Monte Bolca deposits in Italy, and was likely restricted to shallow, tropical waters of the Tethys Ocean.

Discovery

The existence of Blochius was known as early as 1709, where it is mentioned in a written account by Johann Jakob Scheuchzer, who identified a fragment of a Blochius skeleton and identified it as being either related to the Xiphias or Siluro. It was not until the advent of Linnean taxonomy that it properly received a scientific name by Giovanni Serafino Volta, who named Blochius in 1796 after pioneering ichthyologist Marcus Elieser Bloch.

Taxonomy

It is one of two known definite genera in the family Blochiidae, alongside Loancorhynchus from earlier in the Eocene of Chile.
The following species are known, all from Italy:

Blochius longirostris Volta, 1796 Blochius macropterus de Zigno, 1887 Blochius moorheadi Eastman, 1911

Description

Blochius had a very slender elongated body, a narrow head with elongated upper and lower jaws and large eyes. Much like its modern relatives such as swordfish, it had an elongated rostrum. Although generally small in size at around 2 feet in length, it could reach a maximum length of. The rostrum generally comprised 40% of the body length. It likely hunted in a manner similar to modern needlefish.