Zaphlegulus is an extinct genus of superficially mackerel

Mackerel

Mackerel is a common name applied to a number of different species of fish, mostly, but not exclusively, from the family Scombridae. They may be found in all tropical and temperate seas. Most live offshore in the oceanic environment but a few, like the Spanish mackerel , enter bays and can be...

-like fish related to the cutlassfish

Cutlassfish

The cutlassfishes are about 40 species of predatory fish in the family Trichiuridae found in seas throughout the world. Fish of this family are long, slender, and generally steely blue or silver in colour, giving rise to their name...

 and snake mackerel

Snake mackerel

Gempylidae is a family of perciform fishes, commonly known as snake mackerels or escolars.They are elongate fishes with a similar appearance to barracudas, having a long dorsal fin, usually with one or finlets trailing it. The largest species, including the snoek, Thyrsites atun, grow up to two...

s found off the coast of what is now California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

 during the late Miocene

Miocene

The Miocene is a geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about . The Miocene was named by Sir Charles Lyell. Its name comes from the Greek words and and means "less recent" because it has 18% fewer modern sea invertebrates than the Pliocene. The Miocene follows the Oligocene...

 and containing the single species Zaphlegulus venturaensis. It was shorter, but stouter than either of the other two better known genera of the extinct family

Family (biology)

In biological classification, family is* a taxonomic rank. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, genus, and species, with family fitting between order and genus. As for the other well-known ranks, there is the option of an immediately lower rank, indicated by the...

 Zaphlegidae

Zaphlegidae

Euzaphlegidae is a family of extinct, snake mackerel-like, or escolar-like fish whose fossils are found from Late Miocene strata of Southern California.-Description and Taxonomy:...

, Thyrsocles

Thyrsocles

Thyrsocles is an extinct genus of prehistoric bony fish that lived during the Upper Miocene subepoch.-See also:* Prehistoric fish* List of prehistoric bony fish...

and Zaphleges

Zaphleges

Euzaphleges is an extinct genus of superficially mackerel-like fish related to the cutlassfish and snake mackerels with a single species Euzaphleges longurio. Euzaphleges was found off the coast of what is now California during the late Miocene...

, which also lived at the same time.