HOME | DD

Description
Named after the famous knight of the round table, Galahadichthys was the fastest animal in the Paleogene oceans. The genus is so far the oldest known Alter Earth representative of the subfamily Orthocorminae, having been recovered from Late Paleocene deposits of Eastern North America and Greenland. The resemblance to Marlins and Swordfish is entirely superficial, as Orthocormines are entirely unrelated and belong to ancient lineage of ray finned fish known as Pachycormiformes. These also included the enormous and famous filter-feeding Leedsichthys from the Jurassic. Likely a descendant of the Late Cretaceous Protosphyraena, which it strongly resembled, G. xiphiops measured up to 3.5m long and was a speedy piscivore, capable of reaching speeds of 40 mph. Utilising it's sword-like bill, this predatory fish chased after large shoals, lunging forwards and stunning prey with it's sharp facial weapon. The injured and paralysed small fish would then be caught and shredded by a set of nasty curved teeth. A remarkably successful genus, Galahadichthys has survived into the seas of the Holocene, being the most basal member of it's subfamily and living alongside three other genera of broadly similar appearance. Modern representatives of Galahadichthys are native to the tropical waters of Pacific and Indian Oceans, living as they have done for 56 million years.

Description
Named after the famous knight of the round table, Galahadichthys was the fastest animal in the Paleogene oceans. The genus is so far the oldest known Alter Earth representative of the subfamily Orthocorminae, having been recovered from Late Paleocene deposits of Eastern North America and Greenland. The resemblance to Marlins and Swordfish is entirely superficial, as Orthocormines are entirely unrelated and belong to ancient lineage of ray finned fish known as Pachycormiformes. These also included the enormous and famous filter-feeding Leedsichthys from the Jurassic. Likely a descendant of the Late Cretaceous Protosphyraena, which it strongly resembled, G. xiphiops measured up to 3.5m long and was a speedy piscivore, capable of reaching speeds of 40 mph. Utilising it's sword-like bill, this predatory fish chased after large shoals, lunging forwards and stunning prey with it's sharp facial weapon. The injured and paralysed small fish would then be caught and shredded by a set of nasty curved teeth. A remarkably successful genus, Galahadichthys has survived into the seas of the Holocene, being the most basal member of it's subfamily and living alongside three other genera of broadly similar appearance. Modern representatives of Galahadichthys are native to the tropical waters of Pacific and Indian Oceans, living as they have done for 56 million years.