Balistidae

Triggerfish are one of 41 species of marine, ray-finned fishes belonging to the family Balistidae. Often brightly colored and marked by lines and spots, they inhabit tropical and subtropical oceans throughout the world, with the greatest species richness in the Indo-Pacific. Most are found in relatively shallow, coastal habitats, especially at coral reefs, but a few, such as the oceanic triggerfish, are pelagic, inhabiting the open ocean.

Balistidae

Uncredited · CC BY-SA 2.5 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Sits inside
BalistoideiPBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Tetraodontiformes
Life habit
nektonicPBDB, for Tetraodontiformes
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Tetraodontiformes

Time the record covers

At least 48 million years on record.

The record covers at least 48.07 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 56 Mya to 0 Mya.

Paleocene — about 0 of 35 occurrencesEocene — about 13 of 35 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 3 of 35 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 12 of 35 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 2 of 35 occurrencesPleistocene — about 2 of 35 occurrences57–55 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences55–53 Mya — about 1 occurrence53–51 Mya — about 1 occurrence51–50 Mya — about 1 occurrence50–48 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences48–46 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences46–44 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences44–42 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences42–40 Mya — about 1 occurrence40–38 Mya — about 2 occurrences38–36 Mya — about 2 occurrences36–34 Mya — about 2 occurrences34–32 Mya — about 1 occurrence32–30 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences30–29 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences29–27 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences25–23 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences23–21 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences21–19 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences19–17 Mya — about 1 occurrence17–15 Mya — about 1 occurrence15–13 Mya — about 2 occurrences13–11 Mya — about 2 occurrences11–9.5 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences9.5–7.6 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences7.6–5.7 Mya — about 2 occurrences5.7–3.8 Mya — about 2 occurrences3.8–1.9 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences1.9–0 Mya — about 5 occurrences48.07 Mya11.7 ka57 Mya0 Mya

35 occurrences of Balistidae on record, most of them in the Eocene. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

35 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

17 formations

Yazoo — 31.71°N, 87.96°WYazoo — 31.63°N, 88.31°WYazoo — 31.69°N, 88.30°WGosport Sand — 31.50°N, 88.50°WTamiami — 26.72°N, 81.67°WBermont — 27.70°N, 82.50°WPisco — 15.58°S, 74.72°WSubathu — 30.96°N, 76.99°ERosarito Beach — 32.12°N, 116.80°WCalcarenites of Sant Elm — 39.92°N, 3.06°EHrušky — 48.81°N, 16.63°ETonasa — 5.05°S, 119.69°ERío Banano — 9.92°N, 83.55°WVarswater — 33.67°S, 18.43°ECaujarao — 11.50°N, 69.51°WByram — 31.57°N, 88.04°WLisbon — 31.36°N, 86.52°WMarianna Limestone — 31.93°N, 88.94°WTupelo Bay — 33.24°N, 80.44°W

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The named rock units Balistidae has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 15 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Balistidae and its relatives

Eocene

Where Balistidae and its relatives were recorded in the Eocene.

Found in the same rock

916 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 29 sites for Balistidae, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

24 references

Each of the 35 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. 12 further references are not listed. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content1

Picture of Balistidae

Credit
nobody named on the record
Licence
CC BY-SA 2.5
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Balistidae was found in Sketchfab.

Smithsonian Open Access and MorphoSource were not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itBalistoidei through timeFormations of the EoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Rafinesque 1810