Blenniidae

Combtooth blennies are blenniiformids; percomorph marine fish of the family Blenniidae, part of the order Blenniiformes. They are the largest family of blennies with around 401 known species in 58 genera. Combtooth blennies are found in tropical and subtropical waters in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans; some species are also found in brackish and even freshwater environments.

Blenniidae

Etrusko25 · 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
BlennioideiPBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes

Time the record covers

At least 40 million years on record.

The record covers at least 41.03 Mya to 129 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 56 Mya to 11.7 ka.

Paleocene — about 0 of 26 occurrencesEocene — about 8 of 26 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 0 of 26 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 10 of 26 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 3 of 26 occurrencesPleistocene — about 5 of 26 occurrences57–55 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences55–53 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences53–51 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences51–50 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences50–48 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences48–46 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences46–44 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences44–42 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences42–40 Mya — about 1 occurrence40–38 Mya — about 2 occurrences38–36 Mya — about 1 occurrence36–34 Mya — about 1 occurrence34–32 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences29–27 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences27–25 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences25–23 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences23–21 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences21–19 Mya — about 1 occurrence19–17 Mya — about 1 occurrence17–15 Mya — about 1 occurrence15–13 Mya — about 1 occurrence13–11 Mya — about 1 occurrence11–9.5 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences9.5–7.6 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences7.6–5.7 Mya — about 2 occurrences5.7–3.8 Mya — about 1 occurrence3.8–1.9 Mya — about 2 occurrences1.9–0 Mya — about 5 occurrences41.03 Mya129 ka57 Mya0 Mya

26 occurrences of Blenniidae on record, most of them in the Miocene. 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

26 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

9 formations

Moodys Branch — 31.90°N, 88.69°WMoodys Branch — 31.89°N, 88.39°WLangental Beds — 27.40°S, 15.41°ERaz-el-Ain — 35.71°N, 0.64°WMission Valley — 32.92°N, 117.09°WLindos Bay — 36.09°N, 28.01°ECalcaire Grossier — 49.31°N, 2.25°EQuilon — 8.81°N, 76.65°E“upper” Lisbon — 31.82°N, 88.24°WPiney Point — 37.61°N, 76.76°W

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The named rock units Blenniidae has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 16 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Blenniidae and its relatives

Miocene

Where Blenniidae and its relatives were recorded in the Miocene.

Found in the same rock

613 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 25 sites for Blenniidae, 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

18 references

Each of the 26 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. 6 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 Blenniidae

Credit
Etrusko25
Licence
Public Domain
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Blenniidae 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 itBlennioidei through timeFormations of the MioceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0.