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The spikefishes are related to the pufferfishes and triggerfishes. Taxonomy according to GBIF. Diagnosis after Tyler et al., 1993: "Carpathospinosus differs from all other Triacanthodidae by the first dorsal spine with a longer average relative length (37% SL versus 24%-34%) and the second dorsal spine considerably shorter, with an average relative length at the low end of the range of length in other triacanthodids (15% SL versus 13%—29% SL), its length contained an average of 2.4 times in the length of the first spine (versus length of second spine contained an average of 1.1-1.4 times in length of first spine in Recent triacanthodids and 1.8 times in the Oligocene Prohollardia). Carpathospinosus differs from all other Triacanthodinae by the presence of an anteromedial flange on the first basal pterygiophore of the anal fin (versus flange absent); the pelvic spine much longer than the length of the posterior process of the pelvis, the process contained about 1.5 times in the length of the spine (versus pelvic spine usually shorter but sometimes as long as or very slightly longer than the process, the process contained about 0.8 to 1.1, usually 1.0, times in the length of the spine); the head especially long, about 45% SL (versus averages of 35%—41 % SL except in the two long-snouted genera). The relative width of the pelvis in Carpathospinosus is greater than in any other triacanthodin except the Recent Bathyphylax." Line drawing from Tyler et al., 1993: Identified by oilshale. Reference: Tyler, James C.; Jerzmanska, Anna; Bannikov, Alexandre F.; and Swidnicki, Jacek. 1993. Two New Genera and Species of Oligocene Spikefishes (Tetraodontiformes: Triacanthodidae), the First Fossils of the Hollardiinae and Triacanthodinae. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution. https://doi.org/10.5479/si.00810266.75.1