Eubiodectes libanicus & Enchodus marchesettii, Upper Cretaceous

EUBIODECTES LIBANICUS & ENCHODUS MARCHESETII, Upper Cretaceous
From the Sannine Formation, Lebanon.
Length: 42 cm / 12 cm.

Fossil plate with double association of marine species: Eubiodectes libanicus and Enchodus marchesettii, from the Upper Cretaceous deposits of the Sannine Formation, Lebanon.

Eubiodectes is an extinct genus of marine ray-finned fish that lived during the Late Cretaceous. It includes a single known species, Eubiodectes libanicus, from the Sannine Formation (Cenomanian) of Lebanon. This genus belongs to the order Ichthyodectiformes, popularly known as "bulldog fishes". The species was originally described as Chirocentrites libanicus, later reclassified as Ichthyodectes libanicus, and finally assigned to its own genus in 1903. The species Clupea gigantea Heckel, 1849, based on partial and indeterminate material, may be synonymous, although this relationship is not completely confirmed.

Enchodus is an extinct genus of aulopiform actinopterygian fishes, related to modern lancetfishes and lizardfishes. It was a widely distributed and abundant component of Late Cretaceous marine ecosystems globally, and although there are possible later records in the Paleocene or Eocene, these may correspond to redeposited Cretaceous material.