Cimolichthys

Cimolichthys is an extinct genus of large predatory marine aulopiform ray-finned fish known worldwide from the Late Cretaceous. It is the only member of the family Cimolichthyidae.

Cimolichthys

Jonathan Chen · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 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
CimolichthyidaePBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Salmoniformes
Life habit
nektonicPBDB, for Salmoniformes
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Salmoniformes

Time the record covers

At least 21 million years on record.

The record covers at least 93.9 Mya to 72.2 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 100.5 Mya to 66 Mya.

Early Cretaceous — about 0 of 22 occurrencesLate Cretaceous — about 22 of 22 occurrencesLate CretaceousPaleocene — about 0 of 22 occurrences101–100 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences100–99 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences99–98 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences98–96 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences96–95 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences95–94 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences94–93 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences93–92 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences92–90 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences90–89 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences89–88 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences88–87 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences87–86 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences86–84 Mya — about 2 occurrences84–83 Mya — about 2 occurrences83–82 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences82–81 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences81–80 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences80–78 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences78–77 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences77–76 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences76–75 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences75–74 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences74–72 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences72–71 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences71–70 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences70–69 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences69–68 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences68–67 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences67–65 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences93.9 Mya72.2 Mya101.2 Mya65.3 Mya

22 occurrences of Cimolichthys on record, most of them in the Late Cretaceous. 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

22 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

11 formations

Niobrara — 38.72°N, 100.70°WNiobrara — 43.41°N, 103.31°WNiobrara — 38.79°N, 100.76°WNiobrara — 38.80°N, 100.19°WPierre Shale — 49.33°N, 98.31°WPierre Shale — 49.48°N, 98.46°WPierre Shale — 49.37°N, 98.27°WMooreville Chalk — 32.96°N, 88.13°WMooreville Chalk — 32.60°N, 87.68°WGreenhorn Limestone — 37.69°N, 103.94°WGulpen — 50.82°N, 5.68°EKaskapau — 55.71°N, 117.64°WHolleywell, New Pit, Lewes — 51.30°N, 0.39°EDakota — 40.06°N, 97.34°WVaals Greensand — 51.74°N, 6.09°EMaastricht — 50.84°N, 5.79°EGraneros Shale — 38.93°N, 98.91°W

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The named rock units Cimolichthys has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 4 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Cimolichthys and its relatives

Late Cretaceous

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

Found in the same rock

244 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 21 sites for Cimolichthys, 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

17 references

Each of the 22 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. 5 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 Cimolichthys

Credit
Jonathan Chen
Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Cimolichthys 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 itCimolichthyidae through timeFormations of the Late CretaceousThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Leidy