CTENOTHRISSA. 



Family Ctenotiikmssid.k. 



A family of Cretaceous fishes closely related to the existing - Clupeidae and 

 remarkable for the forward position of the enlarged pelvic fins, which are inserted 

 just below and behind the pectoral fins. The skull is comparatively primitive in 

 having the parietal bones partly meeting in the median line. The pectoral arch is 

 normal in the overlap of the post-clavicular plate by the clavicle. 



Genus CTENOTHRISSA, A. S. Woodward. 

 Ctenothrissa, A. S. Woodward, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. [7], vol. iii, 1899, p. 490. 

 Generic Characters. — Head large; trunk fusiform and laterally compressed, 





Fig. 19. Ctenothrissa vexillifer (Pictet) ; restoration, about nat. size— Upper 

 Cretaceous ; Hakel, Mt. Lebanon. 



with lower face of abdominal region flattened. Maxilla robust and arched, with 

 two supramaxillae ; mandible a little prominent, and gape not extending behind the 

 middle of the large orbit ; teeth very small and conical. Vertebrae 30 to 40 

 in number, half being caudal. Dorsal fin much deepened, occupying about half of 

 the back; anal fin small; caudal fin deeply forked. Scales pectinated, large and 

 regularly arranged, none enlarged or thickened, some extending over the cheek and 

 part of the opercular apparatus ; lateral line conspicuous. 



Type Species. — Ctenothrissa vexillifer (Beryx vexillifer, F. J. Pictet, Poiss. 

 Foss. Mt. Lilian, L850, p. 8, pi. i, fig. 1), from the Upper Cretaceous of Hakel, 

 Mount Lebanon (Text-fig. 10). 



Remarks. — The species of this genus were originally referred to Beryx by 

 Agassiz and Pictet. They are readily distinguished from all Berycoids by the 

 characters of the jaws, vertebral column, and fins. 



