Eutrichiurides

Eutrichiurides is an extinct genus of cutlassfish known from the early Paleocene to the early Oligocene.

Taxonomy

Species within this genus include:

†E. africanus Dartevelle & Casier, 1949 - mid-late Paleocene of Angola
†E. delheidi - Early Oligocene of Belgium
†E. orpiensis - Early Paleocene of Morocco & North Dakota, USA, Late Paleocene of Belgium, Early Eocene of England
†E. plicidens - middle Eocene of Alabama, USA, potentially Bartonian of Libya
†E. goberti Casier, 1944 - Early Eocene of Tunisia
†E. termieri - Late Paleocene/Early Eocene of Morocco

E. delheidi is the only member of this genus known from partial skull elements instead of only isolated teeth. The former species E. winkleri Casier, 1946 from the London Clay has been moved to its own genus, Macroynis, as an indeterminate trichiuroid, as there is no evidence that it is a member of this genus.
Fossil teeth of an indeterminate Eutrichiurides have been recovered from the high-latitude Eureka Sound Formation of Nunavut, Canada, suggesting that this genus ranged as far north as the Arctic Circle during the Early Eocene Climatic Optimum. Indeterminate teeth are also known from the middle Eocene-aged Shark River Formation of New Jersey, the Early Eocene-aged Khuiala Formation & Cambay Shale of Gujarat & Rajasthan, India, the late Eocene-aged Fayum Depression of Egypt, and the Early Oligocene of the Paris Basin of France.

Description

Eutrichiurides species were very similar in form and build to modern cutlassfish, in that they were long and slender, blade-shaped fishes with elongated jaws possessing fangs and needle-shaped teeth.