[2][3] For a long time, the genus Pholidophorus served as a wastebasket taxon containing various unrelated species of basal stem teleosts.

The Late Jurassic nominal species "Pholidophorus" purbeckensis was renamed Ichthyokentema by Arthur Woodward in 1941.

[4] Likewise, the Early Jurassic form "Pholidophorus" bechei was renamed Dorsetichthys and moved to its own family, Dorsetichthyidae, by Arratia (2013).

It had large eyes and was probably a fast-swimming predator, hunting planktonic crustaceans and smaller fish.

[7] A very early teleost, Pholidophorus had many primitive characteristics, such as ganoid scales and a spine that was partially composed of cartilage rather than bone.