#enchodus

Gerrothorax, Pterygotus, Pikaia, Enchodus, Hallucigenia, Arganodus, Tullimonstrum, Haimirichia, Hibbertopterus, Amiskwia, Opabinia, Hyphantoceras, Ottoia, Tiktaalik, and Cameroceras! Not to scale.

Enchodus is an extinct genus of aulopiform ray-finned fish related to lancetfish and lizardfish which flourished during the cretaceous some 113 to 66 million years ago. Potentially the latest Enchodus remains are known from the earliest Eocene of Barmer, India some 50 million years ago, however its been been suggested that all post-Cretaceous Enchodus records are reworked cretaceous material that ended up in cenozoic deposits via geological uplifting and other processes. The first remains of enchodus consisting of a partial skeleton was recovered from Mediterranean deposits then described by Jean Louis Rodolphe Agassiz in 1835 who named the animal Enchodus from Greek enchos meaning spear and odoús meaning tooth. Since then remains have been found throughout North America, Europe, South America, Africa, the Middle East, India, and Southwest Asia. And today at least 29 species representing two distinct clades are known. Reaching around 2.5 to 5.6ft (76.7 to 172.2 cms) in length, Enchodus were small to medium sized fish whos most notable attributes are the large "fangs" at the front of the upper and lower jaws and on the palatine bones, leading to its misleading nickname among fossil hunters and paleoichthyologists, "the saber-toothed herring". These fangs, along with a long sleek body and large eyes, suggest Enchodus was a predatory species and would have given it an appearance somewhat reminiscent of modern deep-sea fishes, such as anglerfish and viperfish. Despite being a formidable predator, remains of Enchodus are commonly found among the stomach contents of larger predators, including sharks, other bony fish, mosasaurs, plesiosaurs, pterosaurs, and seabirds.

Art Used can be found at the following links

This month's drawings:

- Johanna plays with some baby Scutosaurus

- Two male Enchodus try to woo a female, but scare the crap out of David

- Frida falls for a booby trap and is now the subject of interest of a Camptosaurus

- A baby Isisaurus thinks Twig is its parent