Batrachoididae

Batrachoididae is the only family in the ray-finned fish order Batrachoidiformes. Members of this family are usually called toadfish or frogfish: both the English common name and scientific name refer to their toad-like appearance.

Batrachoididae

Uncredited · Public Domain · 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
BatrachoidiformesPBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Batrachoidiformes
Life habit
nektobenthicPBDB, for Batrachoidiformes
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Batrachoidiformes

Time the record covers

At least 41 million years on record.

The record covers at least 41.03 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 48.07 Mya to 0 Mya.

Eocene — about 2 of 44 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 2 of 44 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 9 of 44 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 8 of 44 occurrencesPleistocene — about 22 of 44 occurrences49–47 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences47–46 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences46–44 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences44–42 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences42–41 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences34–33 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences33–31 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences31–29 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences29–28 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences28–26 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences26–25 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences25–23 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences23–21 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences21–20 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences20–18 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences18–16 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences16–15 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences15–13 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences13–11 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences11–9.8 Mya — about 1 occurrence9.8–8.2 Mya — about 1 occurrence8.2–6.5 Mya — about 2 occurrences6.5–4.9 Mya — about 3 occurrences4.9–3.3 Mya — about 5 occurrences3.3–1.6 Mya — about 2 occurrences1.6–0 Mya — about 23 occurrences41.03 Mya11.7 ka49 Mya0 Mya

44 occurrences of Batrachoididae on record, most of them in the Pleistocene. 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

44 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

19 formations

Palos Verdes Sand — 33.76°N, 118.29°WPalos Verdes Sand — 33.66°N, 117.90°WPalos Verdes Sand — 33.99°N, 118.45°WPalos Verdes Sand — 33.75°N, 118.29°WPalos Verdes Sand — 33.64°N, 117.88°WOnzole — 0.87°N, 79.89°WGatun — 9.36°N, 79.84°WRaz-el-Ain — 35.71°N, 0.64°WFort Thompson — 27.80°N, 82.80°WAcredale — 36.79°N, 76.17°WYorktown — 35.36°N, 76.82°WKempsville — 36.79°N, 76.17°WTamiami — 27.34°N, 82.51°WBowden — 17.88°N, 76.28°WBituminous Marls — 46.95°N, 26.37°EMenilitic — 49.55°N, 17.59°ELeitha — 47.80°N, 16.63°EMandrové — 1.09°S, 8.94°EQuilon — 8.81°N, 76.65°EMiretrain Marl — 43.56°N, 1.11°WSan Pedro — 33.75°N, 118.29°WTimms Point Silt — 33.73°N, 118.28°WBermont — 27.70°N, 82.50°W

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The named rock units Batrachoididae has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 10 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Batrachoididae and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Batrachoididae and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

1,526 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 30 sites for Batrachoididae, 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

29 references

Each of the 44 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. 17 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 Batrachoididae

Credit
nobody named on the record
Licence
Public Domain
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Batrachoididae was found in MorphoSource and Sketchfab.

Smithsonian Open Access was 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 itBatrachoidiformes through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Jordan 1896