[6] One of the genus' most notable attributes are the large "fangs" at the front of the upper and lower jaws and on the palatine bones, leading to its misleading nickname among fossil hunters and paleoichthyologists, "the saber-toothed herring".

Large individuals of this species had fangs measuring over 6 centimetres (2.4 in) in length, giving its skull an appearance somewhat reminiscent of modern deep-sea fishes, such as anglerfish and viperfish.

The taxon is also known from coeval strata in Mexico, South America (Tiupampan Santa Lucía Formation and Maastrichtian El Molino Formation of Bolivia, Paraíba, Pernambuco and Sergipe states of Brazil, as well as Argentina, Chile, and Peru[10]), Africa (Egypt, Morocco, the Congo, Angola, Niger, and Equatorial Guinea), the Middle East (Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Israel, Palestine and Jordan), Europe (England, France, the Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, Italy, Germany, Sweden, the Czech Republic, Slovenia, Greece, Ukraine[11] and Russia), India, and Japan.

[14] Potentially earlier remains are known from the late Barremian/early Aptian of Brazil (Morro de Chaves Formation), but these specimens are too fragmentary to confidently assign to this genus.

[13][18] E. marchesettii Parenchodus E. brevis E. lewesiensis E. gracilis E. venator E. shumardi E. petrosus E. zipapanensis E. faujasi E. gladiolus E. tineidae E. dirus