2024 in paleoichthyology

This list of fossil fish research presented in 2024 is a list of new fossil taxa of jawless vertebrates, placoderms, cartilaginous fishes, bony fishes, and other fishes that were described during the year, as well as other significant discoveries and events related to paleoichthyology that occurred in 2024.

Jawless vertebrate research

 * A study on the evolutionary history of hagfishes, as indicated by the fossil record and molecular data, is published by Brownstein & Near (2024), who consider the hagfish crown group to be a lineage with Early Permian origin and a long history in continental slope settings.
 * Brookfield (2024) interprets Jamoytius kerwoodi as a probable detritivore or herbivore feeding on Dictyocaris (interpreted by the author as possible algal thalli).
 * Description of the feeding apparatus of Rhinopteraspis dunensis, interpreted as composed of 13 plates that were capable of rotating around the transverse axis, is published by Dearden et al. (2024), who interpret R. dunensis as a suspension or deposit feeder.
 * Shan et al. (2024) describe new fossil material of "Dongfangaspis" qujingensis and Damaspis vartus from the Devonian Xishancun Formation (China), and reinterpret "D." qujingensis as a member of the genus Damaspis.

Placoderm research

 * Jobbins et al. (2024) describe new fossil material of Alienacanthus malkowskii, providing evidence of elongation of the lower jaw which was twice as long as the skull.

Cartilaginous fish research

 * Schnetz et al. (2024) study the completeness of the Paleozoic fossil record of chondrichthyans, finding it to be significantly lower compared to other investigated vertebrate groups.
 * A study on the diversification of chondrichthyans throughout the Paleozoic is published by Schnetz et al. (2024), who report evidence indicative of two increases of diversification rates in the earliest Devonian and in the earliest Carboniferous,and of dispersal into deeper-water environments in the aftermath of the Hangenberg event.
 * A diverse assemblage of cartilaginous fish fossils is described from the Eocene Osinovaya Formation (Rostov Oblast, Russia) by Popov et al. (2024).
 * A study on the anatomy of the pharynx of Acanthodes confusus, providing evidence of the presence of a mixture of characters seen in cartilaginous and bony fish, is published by Dearden, Herrel & Pradel (2024).
 * The oldest fossil material of members of the genus Strophodus from Gondwana reported to date is described from the ?Early to Middle Jurassic succession of Kachchh Basin (India) by Bhosale et al. (2024).
 * Cuny & Chanthasit (2024) describe egg capsules of Palaeoxyris sp. from the Jurassic Phu Kradung Formation (Thailand), interpreted as indicating that at least some hybodont sharks in Jurassic Thailand reproduced in fresh waters.
 * A study on the evolutionary history of selachians (modern sharks) is published by Sternes, Schmitz & Higham (2024), who argue that modern sharks expanded to the pelagic realm no later than the Barremian, that habitat influenced the morphology of their pectoral fins, and that the increase of sea surface temperature in the middle of the Cretaceous period was an important factor in driving the evolution of shark ecology and morphology.
 * The first fossil material of a member of the wobbegong genus Cederstroemia from Asia reported to date is described from the Santonian Kashima Formation (Japan) by Kaneko & Solonin (2024).
 * Vullo et al. (2024) describe new fossil material of Ptychodus from the Upper Cretaceous strata in Mexico, providing evidence that Ptychodus was a high-speed mackerel shark that likely fed on nektonic hard-shelled prey such as ammonites and sea turtles.
 * Shimada et al. (2024) describe two isolated teeth of Megalolamna paradoxodon from the Miocene Calvert Formation (Maryland, United States), representing the northernmost record of Megalolamna reported to date, and a tooth from the Oligocene Chandler Bridge Formation (South Carolina, United States) which might represent the geologically oldest record of a member of the genus Megalolamna reported to date.
 * Sternes et al. (2024) reevaluate the accuracy of the body form of Otodus megalodon inferred by Cooper et al. (2022), compare an incomplete vertebral column of a specimen of O. megalodon from the Miocene of Belgium with corresponding parts of the vertebral columns of extant white sharks, and argue that O. megalodon had an elongated body relative to the body of the white shark.
 * Paredes-Aliaga & Herraiz (2024) compare tooth microwear of the Miocene Otodus megalodon and the Pliocene great white shark from Spain, and interpret the two species as likely competing for similar prey, with the tooth wear of the great white shark possibly indicating the preference for a slightly more abrasive diet.
 * The first fossil tooth of a shark (great white shark) embedded in a seal bone reported to date is described from the Peace River Formation (Florida, United States) by Godfrey et al. (2024).
 * Greenfield (2024) coins the name Arthrobatidae as a replacement for the invalid name of the possible batomorph family Arthropteridae.

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.
 * 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.
 * 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.
 * 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.
 * Redescription of Aphnelepis australis, based on data from a new specimen from the Talbragar fossil site (Australia), is published by Bean (2024), who assigns A. australis to the teleost family Archaeomaenidae.
 * 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.
 * 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.
 * Redescription of Whitephippus tamensis is published by Davesne & Andrews 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.

Lobe-finned fish research

 * Toriño et al. (2024) reconstruct the skull of a specimen of Mawsonia from the Upper Jurassic strata in Uruguay.
 * Cupello et al. (2024) describe pulmonary vessels in a calcified lung of a specimen of Macropoma mantelli from the Upper Cretaceous Chalk Formation (United Kingdom) and in extant coelacanth, confirming the air-breathing function of the tubular structure in the fossil coelacanth specimens called the calcified organ, and interpret coelacanths as having pulmonary arterie homologous to the same paired branches of the air-filled organs (including gas bladders) of other bony fishes.
 * Redescription of the tooth plates of Atlantoceratodus iheringi, based on data from new and previously described fossil material, is published by Panzeri (2024).
 * Stewart et al. (2024) describe the anatomy of the axial skeleton of Tiktaalik roseae, providing evidence of the appearance of the evolution of increased mobility at the head-trunk boundary prior to the origin of limbs, as well as evidence of the presence of derived features of the anatomy of the ribs that were previously known only from limbed taxa, and interpret the anatomy of T. roseae as indicative of a locomotor capacity intermediate between those of other elpistostegalians and those of limbed vertebrates.

General research

 * A diverse assemblage of fish remains, including the youngest fossil material of Bransonella lingulata reported to date, is described from the Carboniferous (Gzhelian) Finis Shale (Texas, United States) by Ivanov & Seuss (2024).
 * Boles et al. (2024) describe a new assemblage of vertebrate microfossils from the Cretaceous-Paleogene transition from the Hornerstown Formation (New Jersey, United States), including the first Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) records of Palaeogaleus vincenti and Paralbula marylandica and the first Paleocene record of Saurocephalus lanciformis, extending known geographic range of Saurocephalus, Phyllodus paulkatoi and Notidanodon brotzeni, and providing evidence of slow recovery of elasmobranchs and ray-finned fish after the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event.
 * Goedert et al. (2024) describe a new assemblage of fish fossils from the Eocene (Ypresian) Crescent Formation (Washington, United States), including the first early Eocene shark assemblage reported from western North America.
 * Ebersole et al. (2024) describe a new assemblage of fish fossils from the Oligocene Rupelian Red Bluff Clay (Alabama, United States), including the first record of a member of the genus Eostegostoma from the Oligocene and from the Gulf Coastal Plain of North America, as well as fossils of Macrorhizodus praecursor, Xiphiorhynchus kimblalocki, Cylindracanthus rectus and C. ornatus providing evidence of persistence of these species into at least the early Oligocene.