Denticle herring

Denticle herring
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Clupeiformes
Suborder: Denticipitoidei
Grande, 1982
Family: Denticipitidae
Clausen, 1959
Genus: Denticeps
Clausen, 1959
Species:
D. clupeoides
Binomial name
Denticeps clupeoides
Clausen, 1959

The denticle herring (Denticeps clupeoides) is a small, up to 15 cm (5.9 in) long, species of ray-finned fish found only in the rivers of Benin, Nigeria, and western Cameroon.[2] It is related to the herrings, but notable for its large anal fin and its array of denticle-like scales under the head, which give it almost a furry appearance.

It is the sole living member of the family Denticipitidae, and is the last surviving member of a very ancient lineage of clupeiforms, the Denticipitoidei, that diverged from the clupeoids during the Mesozoic. Studies have estimated the divergence of Denticipitidae from the clupeoids to have occurred anywhere between the Late Jurassic to Early Cretaceous, and that it must have occurred before the Barremian stage, when the earliest clupeoids are known.[3][4] The only other known member of this lineage is Paleodenticeps, a fossil denticipitid that inhabited freshwater habitats in Kenya during the middle Eocene. Denticeps thus likely descends from a marine clupeiform that colonized the freshwater ecosystems of Africa anywhere between the Early Cretaceous to the mid-Eocene.[4]

  1. ^ Lalèyè, P. (2020). "Denticeps clupeoides". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2020: e.T182459A134946905. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2020-2.RLTS.T182459A134946905.en. Retrieved 16 November 2024.
  2. ^ "Denticeps clupeoides, Denticle herring : fisheries". fishbase.mnhn.fr. Retrieved 2024-04-17.
  3. ^ Malabarba, Maria C.; Dario, Fabio Di (2017). "A new predatory herring-like fish (Teleostei: Clupeiformes) from the early Cretaceous of Brazil, and implications for relationships in the Clupeoidei". Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. 180 (1): 175–194.
  4. ^ a b Lavoué, Sébastien (2020). "Origins of Afrotropical freshwater fishes". Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. 188: 345–411.