14015- Great Coccodus insignis Pycnodontiform Fish Fossil Cretaceous Age Lebanon

†Coccodus (ray-finned fish)

Osteichthyes - Pycnodontiformes - Pycnodontidae

Coccodus is an extinct genus of extinct pycnodontid fish that lived during the lower Cenomanian. The various species had a pair of massive, curved spines emanating from the lower sides of the head, and one curved spine on the top of its head. Unlike most pycnodontids (which tend to have short, marine butterflyfish-like bodies), Coccodus species had a comparatively long body, giving the living animals a superficial resemblance to a scaly chimaera. These fishes comes from the Cretaceous 100 million years old These fossil deposits were first mentioned by the Greek historian Herodotus where he said there were "fish in the stones".