Clariidae

Airbreathing catfish comprise the family Clariidae of the order Siluriformes. This family is made up of seventeen genera and about 123 species, all of which inhabit freshwater. Clariids are called the airbreathing catfishes because of their possession of a suprabranchial respiratory organ that allows aerial respiration. Other catfishes are also known to facultatively breathe air, such as the Callichthyidae and Loricariidae. However, clariids are the only catfishes known to possess an accessory breathing organ.

Clariidae

Mistvan · CC BY-SA 3.0 · 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
Also called
airbreathing catfishPBDB
Sits inside
SiluroideiPBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Siluriformes
Life habit
nektobenthicPBDB, for Siluriformes
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Siluriformes
Environment
freshwaterPBDB, for Siluriformes

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 56 Mya to 0 Mya.

Paleocene — about 0 of 167 occurrencesEocene — about 2 of 167 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 0 of 167 occurrencesMiocene — about 29 of 167 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 24 of 167 occurrencesPleistocene — about 102 of 167 occurrences57–55 Mya — about 0.1 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 0.4 occurrences46–44 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences44–42 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences42–40 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences25–23 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences23–21 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences21–19 Mya — about 2 occurrences19–17 Mya — about 3 occurrences17–15 Mya — about 2 occurrences15–13 Mya — about 2 occurrences13–11 Mya — about 6 occurrences11–9.5 Mya — about 3 occurrences9.5–7.6 Mya — about 3 occurrences7.6–5.7 Mya — about 5 occurrences5.7–3.8 Mya — about 14 occurrences3.8–1.9 Mya — about 37 occurrences1.9–0 Mya — about 86 occurrences41.03 Mya11.7 ka57 Mya0 Mya

167 occurrences of Clariidae 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

167 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

31 formations

Koobi Fora — 4.26°N, 36.28°EKoobi Fora — 4.24°N, 36.26°EKoobi Fora — 4.29°N, 36.23°EKoobi Fora — 3.77°N, 36.44°EKoobi Fora — 3.78°N, 36.33°EKoobi Fora — 3.87°N, 36.37°EKoobi Fora — 4.18°N, 36.42°EKoobi Fora — 4.08°N, 36.35°EKoobi Fora — 4.07°N, 36.37°EOlduvai — 2.97°S, 35.32°EOlduvai — 2.98°S, 34.32°EOlduvai — 2.98°S, 35.37°EGebel Silsila-YCS — 24.50°N, 33.00°EWembere-Manonga — 3.87°S, 33.72°EWembere-Manonga — 3.90°S, 33.82°EWembere-Manonga — 3.92°S, 33.88°EWembere-Manonga — 4.03°S, 33.78°EWembere-Manonga — 3.88°S, 33.97°EWembere-Manonga — 3.98°S, 33.93°EGabal Silsila — 24.77°N, 32.95°EOlorgesailie — 1.58°S, 36.43°ENgorora — 0.90°N, 35.85°EDam — 25.98°N, 49.39°EWarwire — 1.50°N, 31.00°ENkondo — 1.50°N, 31.00°EOluka — 1.00°N, 30.50°ENyabusosi — 1.00°N, 30.50°EKakara — 1.00°N, 30.50°EBeglia — 34.00°N, 8.00°EKaiso Village — 1.50°N, 31.00°EKapthurin — 0.50°N, 36.00°EChemeron — 0.67°N, 35.83°EMuluk — 30.42°N, 30.25°EShungura — 5.08°N, 36.03°EChiwondo — 10.17°S, 34.00°ELukeino — 0.50°N, 35.67°ETiim — 0.84°N, 35.82°ENachukui — 4.27°N, 35.82°E1 — 11.06°N, 42.28°E

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The named rock units Clariidae has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 7 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 45 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Clariidae and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Clariidae and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

835 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 159 sites for Clariidae, 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

66 references

Each of the 167 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. 54 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 Clariidae

Credit
Mistvan
Licence
CC BY-SA 3.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Clariidae 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 itSiluroidei through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Bonaparte 1846