Otolith taxa Ray-finned fish research • New, rank-free classification of extant and extinct ray-finned fishes is presented by Near & Thacker (2024). • Dankina, Šečkus & Plax (2024) describe new fossil material of ray-finned fishes from the Devonian (Eifelian and Givetian) strata in
Belarus and
Lithuania, including scales of members of the genera
Cheirolepis and
Orvikuina, and improving
biostratigraphic correlations within the studied region. • New information on the evolution of the brain in the early ray-finned fishes, gained from the study of remains of the latest Carboniferous-earliest Permian ray-finned fishes from
Brazil with extensive soft-tissue preservation of brains, cranial nerves, eyes and possible cardiovascular tissues, is presented by Figueroa
et al. (2024). • Redescription and study on the affinities of
Westollia crassa is published by Štamberg (2024), who confirms the placement of this species as a distinct member of the family
Aeduellidae. • Bakaev (2024) designates a
neotype of
Eurysomus soloduchi, and interprets
Eurysomus as a generalist feeder able to feed on hard prey. • A study on teeth of members of
Eurynotoidiformes is published by Bakaev
et al. (2024), who interpret eurynotoidiforms as likely the oldest known actinopterygians specialized for herbivory. • Revision of the fossil material of ray-finned fishes from the Permian-Triassic transition from the Kuznetsk Basin (Siberia,
Russia) is published by Bakaev (2024). • Kumar
et al. (2024) describe fossil material of a member of the genus
Cylindracanthus from the Eocene Naredi Formation (
India), extending known geographical distribution of members of the genus. • Fang
et al. (2024) report the discovery of teeth with cutting edges of large carnivorous fishes from the
Norian Qulonggongba Formation (Tibet, China), interpreted as likely belonging to a member of the genus
Birgeria. • Cooper (2024) describes fossil material of an
acipenseriform from the
Kimmeridge Clay (
United Kingdom), representing the first record of a Late Jurassic member of this group found outside Asia. • Cavin
et al. (2024) describe fossil material of a large-bodied ray-finned fish from a Lower Triassic outcrop in northern Dobrogea (
Romania), with anatomy interpreted as indicative of affinities with
Polzbergiidae, and interpret the studied fossils as belonging to the earliest known large, specialized,
durophagous neopterygian. • Review of the fossil record of non-marine members of
Pycnodontiformes is published by Cawley & Kriwet (2024), who report that the incursions of pycnodontiforms into brackish and freshwater habitats increased during the Cretaceous period, when the rising sea levels might have made it easier for marine fishes to colonize continental environments. • Revision of evidence of growth and aging in the fossil material of pycnodonts is published by Capasso (2024), who find no evidence for a single overall pattern of somatic growth, but reports evidence of specific changes which seem to be common in the studied pycnodonts. • Capasso, Ebert & Witzmann (2024) review dental pathologies in pycnodonts, report uneven distribution of tooth anomalies in the pycnodont fossil record and interpret such distribution as suggesting that pycnodont teeth weren't initially ordered into distinct dental rows, which only appeared in the most derived forms. • Review of pathologies in the skeletons and dermal scales of pycnodont specimens is published by Capasso, Ebert & Witzmann (2024). • Capasso & Witzmann (2024) describe non-dental
odontodes in two specimens of
Haquelpycnodus picteti from the Cenomanian of
Lebanon, representing the first record of dermal odontodes in pycnodonts reported to date, and interpret the anatomical position and structure of the studied structures as indicating that they functionally participated in the chewing process. • New information on the anatomy of
Tibetodus gyrodoides is provided by Fang & Wu (2024). • Vullo & Frey (2024) describe specimens of
Atractosteus messelensis and
Cyclurus kehreri found with bat specimens in close contact with their jaws, and interpret this finding as evidence of opportunistic feeding on drowning or dead bats by Eocene
amiids and gars from the
Messel pit (
Germany). • Gouiric-Cavalli
et al. (2024) describe new fossil material of
Ameghinichthys antarcticus from the Tithonian strata of the Longing Member of the Ameghino/Nordenskjöld Formation (Antarctica), interpreted as supporting placement of
Ameghinichthys in
Dapediiformes. • Fossil material of gars, representing one of the oldest record of members of this group from South America reported to date, is described from the Cretaceous (Albian-Cenomanian)
Alcântara Formation (
Brazil) by Brito
et al. (2024). • Nikolov
et al. (2024) describe fossil material of gars from the Santonian–Campanian strata from the Vrabchov Dol locality (
Bulgaria), expanding known geographical range of gars within the Late Cretaceous European Archipelago. • Weis
et al. (2024) study gut contents of
pachycormid specimens from the
Toarcian strata in
Luxembourg, and report that the studied pachycormids fed on
octobrachian cephalopods. • Cooper (2024) describes fossil material of
Pachycormus macropterus from the Toarcian strata in Normandy (France) representing the first direct evidence of cannibalism in a
pachycormiform fish reported to date. • Cooper, Maxwell & Martill (2024) describe fossil material of
Asthenocormus cf. titanius from the
Kimmeridge Clay, representing the first unambiguous record of
Asthenocormus from the
United Kingdom reported to date. • Kanarkina, Zverkov & Polyakova (2024) identify fossil material of
Protosphyraena ferox and
P. tenuirostris from the
Cenomanian Polpino Formation (
Kursk Oblast,
Russia), reinterpret
Australopachycormus as a
junior synonym of
Protosphyraena, describe the first specimens of
Protosphyraena from the
Albian of the North Caucasus, and interpret the studied fossils as evidence of wide distribution of
Protosphyraena already in the late Early Cretaceous. • Bennett (2024) describes a series of caudal vertebrae of an
ichthyodectiform from the Upper Cretaceous
Niobrara Formation (
Kansas,
United States), preserved with pathologies unknown in extant and fossil fishes but sharing similarities with
diffuse idiopathic skeletal hyperostosis and
spondylosis deformans of mammals, and interprets the studied pathologies as caused by combined bacterial and fungal infections, affecting the swimming abilities of the studied fish and likely ultimately resulting in its death. • Cantalice
et al. (2024) describe fossil material of a previously unknown
albuliform from the
Campanian strata from the Múzquiz
Lagerstätte (Austin Group;
Coahuila,
Mexico), estimated to be approximately 3,9 metres long and representing the largest albuliform reported to date. • A study on the phylogenetic relationships and biogeography of extant and fossil
osteoglossids is published by Capobianco & Friedman (2024), who interpret their findings as indicating that the last common ancestor of extant osteoglossids was marine, and that the group colonized freshwater settings at least four times. • A study on the phylogenetic relationships of herring-like fossil fishes belonging to the group
Clupei is published by Kevrekidis
et al. (2024). • Liu
et al. (2024) revise
Osteochilus sanshuiensis,
Osteochilus longipinnatus and
Osteochilus laticorpus from the Paleogene Buxin Formation (
China),
synonymizing them into a single species named
Jianghanichthys sanshuiensis. • Claeson
et al. (2024) present a new reconstruction of
Oncorhynchus rastrosus, interpreting its enlarged teeth as projecting laterally like tusks. • Torres-Parada
et al. (2024) report the discovery of fossil material of members of the genus
Enchodus from the Upper Cretaceous strata of the La Luna Formation (
Colombia). • Redescription of
Whitephippus tamensis is published by Davesne
et al. (2024), who interpret this taxon as an early member of
Lampriformes, likely related to extant opahs and oarfishes and providing the earliest known evidence of adaptation of lampriforms to the
pelagic environment. • Laine
et al. (2024) sequence
three-spined stickleback genomes from Late Pleistocene sediments from the Jossavannet lake (Finnmark,
Norway), who identify more marine- than freshwater-associated ancestry in the studied genomes, but also find evidence that freshwater-associated
alleles were already established at known
loci of large effect during the brackish phase of the formation of the lake. • Miyata
et al. (2024) describe an assemblage of marine fish otoliths from the Lower Cretaceous
Kimigahama Formation (
Japan), including the oldest known fossil material of members of the family
Ichthyotringidae, as well as of otoliths of pterothrissine
bonefishes,
elopiforms and
herring smelts indicative of cosmopolitan distribution of these groups during the Early Cretaceous. • Evidence from the skeletal and otolith fossil record, interpreted as indicative of presence of rich and diverse teleost assemblages in known
Maastrichtian marine settings which were significantly affected by the
Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event, is presented by Schwarzhans, Carnevale & Stringer (2024), who also find that
perciforms and related groups,
ophidiiforms and
gadiforms underwent an explosive radiation and diversification in the early
Paleogene. • A study on the survivorship patterns of freshwater ray-finned fishes during the Cretaceous-Paleogene transition, based on data from the fossil record from the
Denver Basin, is published by Wilson
et al. (2024), who report evidence of previously unrecognized diversification of freshwater clades after the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event, as well as evidence of localized drops in diversity. ==Lobe-finned fishes==