| Euzaphlegidae Temporal range: Late Miocene |
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| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Actinopterygii |
| Order: | Perciformes |
| Family: | Euzaphlegidae |
| Type genus | |
| Euzaphleges |
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| Genera | |
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Euzaphlegidae is a family of extinct, snake mackerel-like, or escolar-like fish whose fossils are found from Late Miocene strata of Southern California.[1][2]
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In life, the Euzaphlegidae would have born a superficial resemblance to mackerels or wahoo, leading some researchers to place them within Scombridae or Cybiidae, respectively.[1] However, x-ray analysis of the bone structure strongly suggests a relationship with the snake-mackerels, with some experts placing them within Gempylidae.[3]
The sharp teeth and mackerel-like forms strongly suggest that the zaphlegids were predators, verified by the remains of numerous extinct deep sea smelt, Bathylagus, and herring, Xyne grex, found within the stomachs of several specimens of Thyrsocles and Euzaphleges.[1] Researcher Lore Rose David proposed that, because the Euzaphlegidae were comparatively less adapted to a pelagic lifestyle like the gempylids, but had slender skeletons suggesting of a deep-water lifestyle, the Euzaphlegidae lived in deep, offshore communities near the ocean floor, where they preyed on other fish.[1] David also suggested that the Euzaphlegidae presence in Miocene California excluded the gempylids from establishing themselves at the time, while the presence of scombrids in shallower water ecosystems prevented the Euzaphlegidae from establishing themselves in shallow water.[1]
During the time of the Late Miocene, Southern California had a very warm, tropical climate. The transition from Late Miocene to Early Pliocene saw the climate cool, and this cooling event drove the Euzaphlegidae and several other (locally) endemic fish species, such as the manefish Chalcidichthys and the spinyfin Absalomichthys, into extinction.[1] This cooling event, coupled with the survival of the scombrids in southern Californian marine ecosystems, also helped prevent gempylids from replacing the Euzaphlegidae during the Pliocene or Pleistocene.[1]