Concavotectum was a 6 foot long fish which lived in Morocco during the middle Cretaceous Period 100 million years ago.
Concavotectum, which was named in 2008 from a single skull, belonged to the family Plethodidae. The plethodids first appeared during the Cenomanian Stage of the middle Cretaceous Period about 100 MYA and were abundant for the next twenty million years. However, around 80 MYA, they started to go into decline. Most plethodid fish are known from the late Cretaceous of North America, but a few are also known from the middle and late Cretaceous of Europe and Africa, Concavotectum being one of them. The plethodids had mouths which were filled with literally thousands of extremely tiny pointed recurved teeth, and it has been hypothesized that they mostly fed on plankton like a modern-day paddlefish. Most plethodids were moderately sized, averaging at about 2 feet long, but Concavotectum was three times bigger. Yet it wasn’t the largest. That honor belongs to Paranogmius, which, though known only from incomplete remains, is estimated to have measured an astounding 10 feet long.
Concavotectum moroccensis. © Jason R. Abdale (September 30, 2025).
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Cavin, Lionel; Forey, Peter L. (2008). “A new tselfatiiform teleost from the Upper Cretaceous (Cenomanian) of the Kem Kem beds, Southern Morocco”. In Arratia, Gloria; Schultze, Hans-Peter; Wilson, Mark V. H., eds. Mesozoic Fishes IV: Homology and Phylogeny. München: Verlag Dr. Friedrich Pfeil, 2008. Pages 199-216.
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/259625350_A_new_tselfatiiform_teleost_from_the_Upper_Cretaceous_Cenomanian_of_the_Kem_Kem_beds_Southern_Morocco.
Cavin, L.; Tong, Haiyan; Boudad, Larbi; Meister, Christian; Piuz, A.; Tabouelle, Jerome; Aarab, M.; Amiot, Romain; Buffetaut, Eric; Dyke, G.; Hua, Shuo; Le Loeuff, Jean (2010). “Vertebrate assemblages from the early Late Cretaceous of southeastern Morocco: An overview”. Journal of African Earth Sciences, volume 57 (July 2010). Pages 391-412.
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/259284285_Vertebrate_assemblages_from_the_early_Late_Cretaceous_of_southeastern_Morocco_An_overview.
Categories: Paleontology, Uncategorized
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