Cavinichthys, a new actinopterygian fish from the Cretaceous of Italy

[Halichoeres]

This paper will probably have to have some followups, as they clearly mean to name this new fish Cavinichthys pachylepis, but the paper also contains numerous references to "Cavinichthys pietrarojae". This paper describes a new genus and species, and explicitly calls the genus monotypic, so I think they must have changed their minds about the name at some point and missed some instances during editing? Anyway, the official name means "Cavin's thick-scaled fish," after Lionel Cavin, a prolific paleoichthyologist.

Here's the holotype, a nice complete fish 82 cm long. It's a pachyrhizodontid, so a distant relative of tarpons.


And an interpretive diagram of the head:


Open access in Thalassia Salentina: http://siba-ese.unisalento.it/index.php/thalassiasal/article/view/20985