Beryciformes

The Beryciformes are a poorly-understood order of carnivorous ray-finned fishes consisting of 7 families, 30 genera, and 161 species. They feed on small fish and invertebrates. Beyond this, little is known about the biology of most member species because of their nocturnal habits and deepwater habitats.

Beryciformes

Dr. Ken Sulak · 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
BerycimorphaceaePBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB
Life habit
nektonicPBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB

Time the record covers

At least 93 million years on record.

The record covers at least 93.9 Mya to 774 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 113.2 Mya to 129 ka.

Early Cretaceous — about 1 of 231 occurrencesEarly CretaceousLate Cretaceous — about 78 of 231 occurrencesLate CretaceousPaleocene — about 13 of 231 occurrencesPaleoceneEocene — about 74 of 231 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 15 of 231 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 44 of 231 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 3 of 231 occurrencesPleistocene — about 3 of 231 occurrences115–112 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences112–108 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences108–104 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences104–100 Mya — about 2 occurrences100–96 Mya — about 14 occurrences96–92 Mya — about 11 occurrences92–89 Mya — about 6 occurrences89–85 Mya — about 12 occurrences85–81 Mya — about 14 occurrences81–77 Mya — about 6 occurrences77–73 Mya — about 6 occurrences73–69 Mya — about 4 occurrences69–65 Mya — about 2 occurrences65–62 Mya — about 1 occurrence62–58 Mya — about 10 occurrences58–54 Mya — about 3 occurrences54–50 Mya — about 5 occurrences50–46 Mya — about 14 occurrences46–42 Mya — about 21 occurrences42–38 Mya — about 23 occurrences38–35 Mya — about 8 occurrences35–31 Mya — about 3 occurrences31–27 Mya — about 4 occurrences27–23 Mya — about 8 occurrences23–19 Mya — about 9 occurrences19–15 Mya — about 9 occurrences15–12 Mya — about 6 occurrences12–7.7 Mya — about 16 occurrences7.7–3.8 Mya — about 6 occurrences3.8–0 Mya — about 4 occurrences93.9 Mya774 ka115 Mya0 Mya

231 occurrences of Beryciformes on record, most of them in the Late Cretaceous. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group, and the chart stops with its fossils rather than at the present. 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

231 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

76 formations

Stone City — 30.53°N, 96.69°WStone City — 30.63°N, 96.54°WStone City — 30.67°N, 96.56°WCook Mountain — 30.64°N, 96.51°WCook Mountain — 30.61°N, 96.57°WCook Mountain — 31.33°N, 95.52°WCook Mountain — 32.03°N, 88.70°WMiretrain Marl — 43.56°N, 1.11°WNiobrara — 39.10°N, 99.99°WNiobrara — 38.92°N, 100.21°WNiobrara — 38.88°N, 100.28°WWeches — 30.00°N, 97.15°WWeches — 28.96°N, 98.48°WWeches — 31.22°N, 96.04°WWaihao Greensand — 44.80°S, 170.98°EWaihao Greensand — 44.40°S, 171.04°EAhlen — 51.83°N, 7.83°EAhlen — 51.86°N, 7.74°EBaumberge — 51.96°N, 7.36°EHolleywell, New Pit, Lewes — 51.30°N, 0.39°ETashlik — 49.06°N, 31.90°EScaglia Variegata Alpina — 45.28°N, 11.65°EBells Creek Mudstone — 41.34°S, 175.46°EZig Zag Chalk — 51.33°N, 0.49°EZig Zag Chalk — 51.24°N, 0.34°WZig Zag Chalk — 50.90°N, 0.15°WZig Zag Chalk — 50.87°N, 0.00°EPrince Creek — 70.02°N, 151.59°WPrince Creek — 70.09°N, 151.54°WLellinge Greensand — 55.63°N, 12.62°ELellinge Greensand — 55.71°N, 12.60°EWaioha Shellbeds — 34.50°S, 172.96°ESelsey — 50.80°N, 1.21°WJan Juc — 38.33°S, 144.30°EMooreville Chalk — 32.76°N, 88.02°WMooreville Chalk — 32.95°N, 88.08°WLisbon — 31.56°N, 87.52°WAlzey — 49.83°N, 7.72°ECalcari di Monte San Michele — 45.93°N, 13.62°ELa Meseta — 64.24°S, 56.60°WLa Meseta — 64.23°S, 56.67°WTumey — 36.55°N, 120.55°W

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Beryciformes has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 52 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 72 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Beryciformes and its relatives

Late Cretaceous

Where Beryciformes and its relatives were recorded in the Late Cretaceous.

Found in the same rock

2,760 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 172 sites for Beryciformes, 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

80 references

Each of the 231 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. 68 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 content2

Picture of Beryciformes

Credit
Dr. Ken Sulak
Licence
Public Domain
Commercial use
the licence allows it

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike
Commercial use
the licence does not allow it

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 itBerycimorphaceae through timeFormations of the Late CretaceousThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Patterson 1964