Xenacanthida Temporal range:
| |
---|---|
Life restoration of Xenacanthus | |
Fossil of Lebachacanthus senckenbergianus | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Chondrichthyes |
Subclass: | Elasmobranchii |
Order: | †Xenacanthida Glikman, 1964 |
Families and genera | |
See text |
Xenacanthida (or Xenacanthiformes) is an order or superorder of extinct shark-like chondrichthyans (cartilaginous fish) known from the Carboniferous to Triassic. They were native to freshwater, marginal marine and shallow marine habitats.[1] Some xenacanths may have grown to lengths of 5 m (16 ft).[2] Most xenacanths died out at the end of the Permian in the End-Permian Mass Extinction, with only a few forms surviving into the Triassic.