Beerichthys
Extinct genus of fishes
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Beerichthys is an extinct genus of prehistoric marine ray-finned fish. It contains a single species, Beerichthys ingens, that was a member of the Ypresian London Clay fauna of lower Eocene England.[1]
| Beerichthys Temporal range: | |
|---|---|
| Artist's reconstruction | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Actinopterygii |
| Order: | Acanthuriformes |
| Family: | Luvaridae |
| Genus: | †Beerichthys Casier, 1966 |
| Species: | †B. ingens |
| Binomial name | |
| †Beerichthys ingens Casier, 1966 | |
It is known only from a series of incomplete skulls. When originally described in 1966, B. ingens was placed in a monotypic family, "Beerichthyidae," within Iniomi. Later, more (also incomplete) skulls were studied by Colin Patterson, who determined that the fish was a louvar, an assessment supported with further CT scanning of its fossils.[2][3]