Exellia is a genus of extinct spadefish that lived in the Tethys Ocean

Tethys Ocean

The Tethys Ocean was an ocean that existed between the continents of Gondwana and Laurasia during the Mesozoic era before the opening of the Indian Ocean.-Modern theory:...

 during the early Paleogene

Paleogene

The Paleogene is a geologic period and system that began 65.5 ± 0.3 and ended 23.03 ± 0.05 million years ago and comprises the first part of the Cenozoic Era...

. The adult form is shaped akin to a large spadefish or a short dolphinfish, with very large pelvic fins, and a long dorsal fin starting from in front of the eyes to near the base of the caudal peduncle. The juvenile form resembles a juvenile drumfish, with the dorsal fin forming a long crest on top of the head.

The earlier species, E. proxima, is known from the Danata Formation Lagerstätten from the Late Paleocene

Thanetian

The Thanetian is, in the ICS' Geologic timescale, the latest age or uppermost stratigraphic stage of the Paleocene Epoch or series. It spans the time between and . The Thanetian is preceded by the Selandian age and followed by the Ypresian age...

 of Turkmenistan

Turkmenistan

Turkmenistan , formerly also known as Turkmenia is one of the Turkic states in Central Asia. Until 1991, it was a constituent republic of the Soviet Union, the Turkmen Soviet Socialist Republic . Turkmenistan is one of the six independent Turkic states...

. The latter-occurring species, E. velifer, is the better studied species, and is known from numerous adult and juvenile specimens from the Middle Eocene Monte Bolca

Monte Bolca

Monte Bolca is a lagerstätte near Verona, Italy that was one of the first fossil sites with high quality preservation known to Europeans, and is still an important source of fossils from the Eocene....

 Lagerstätten.

Most researchers regard Exellia as a spadefish, though, some remove this genus, and the related Eoluvarus

Eoluvarus

Eoluvarus bondei is a species of extinct bony fish once identified as being a luvar from the Fuller's Earth Ypresian formation of the Barmer District of Rajasthan, India. Later, better specimens were found, and E. bondei was reappraised as being a relative of the prehistoric spadefish, Exellia....

to a separate 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...

, "Exelliidae."