Clupeidae

Clupeidae is a family of clupeiform ray-finned fishes, comprising, for instance, the herrings and sprats. Many members of the family have a body protected with shiny cycloid scales, a single dorsal fin, and a fusiform body for quick, evasive swimming and pursuit of prey composed of small planktonic animals. Due to their small size and position in the lower trophic level of many marine food webs, the levels of methylmercury they bioaccumulate are very low, reducing the risk of mercury poisoning when consumed.

Clupeidae

Unknown author Unknown author · 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
Also called
herringPBDB
Sits inside
ClupeoideiPBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Clupeiformes
Life habit
nektonicPBDB, for Clupeiformes
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Clupeiformes

Time the record covers

At least 119 million years on record.

The record covers at least 119.57 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 143.1 Mya to 0 Mya.

Late Jurassic — about 0 of 415 occurrencesEarly Cretaceous — about 4 of 415 occurrencesEarly CretaceousLate Cretaceous — about 13 of 415 occurrencesLate CretaceousPaleocene — about 6 of 415 occurrencesEocene — about 37 of 415 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 75 of 415 occurrencesMiocene — about 196 of 415 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 47 of 415 occurrencesPleistocene — about 31 of 415 occurrences146–141 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences141–136 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences136–131 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences131–127 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences127–122 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences122–117 Mya — about 2 occurrences117–112 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences112–107 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences107–102 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences102–97 Mya — about 1 occurrence97–92 Mya — about 2 occurrences92–88 Mya — about 1 occurrence88–83 Mya — about 1 occurrence83–78 Mya — about 1 occurrence78–73 Mya — about 1 occurrence73–68 Mya — about 3 occurrences68–63 Mya — about 4 occurrences63–58 Mya — about 4 occurrences58–54 Mya — about 5 occurrences54–49 Mya — about 7 occurrences49–44 Mya — about 7 occurrences44–39 Mya — about 9 occurrences39–34 Mya — about 10 occurrences34–29 Mya — about 46 occurrences29–24 Mya — about 26 occurrences24–19 Mya — about 21 occurrences19–15 Mya — about 41 occurrences15–9.7 Mya — about 44 occurrences9.7–4.9 Mya — about 100 occurrences4.9–0 Mya — about 79 occurrences119.57 Mya11.7 ka146 Mya0 Mya

415 occurrences of Clupeidae 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

415 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

94 formations

Modelo — 34.13°N, 118.42°WModelo — 34.13°N, 118.48°WModelo — 34.37°N, 119.24°WModelo — 34.08°N, 118.24°WModelo — 34.15°N, 118.47°WGreen River — 41.77°N, 110.75°WGreen River — 41.87°N, 110.68°WGreen River — 41.67°N, 110.67°WGreen River — 41.78°N, 110.73°WGreen River — 42.13°N, 110.13°WMonterey — 33.71°N, 118.31°WMonterey — 34.11°N, 118.42°WMonterey — 34.61°N, 120.44°WMonterey — 33.79°N, 117.81°WMount Harris — 45.15°S, 170.93°EMount Harris — 44.82°S, 170.88°EMount Harris — 45.03°S, 171.02°EPisco — 15.58°S, 74.72°WPisco — 14.35°S, 75.88°WPisco — 15.48°S, 74.80°WMenilite — 49.49°N, 17.79°EMenilite — 49.20°N, 17.20°EMenilite — 49.42°N, 17.75°ERaz-el-Ain — 35.71°N, 0.64°WMakrilia — 35.04°N, 25.76°ETamiami — 27.34°N, 82.51°WSouthburn Sand — 44.30°S, 171.00°ESouthburn Sand — 44.37°S, 170.91°EBahía Inglesa — 27.04°S, 70.81°WBahía Inglesa — 27.17°S, 70.87°WFinikia — 35.30°N, 25.27°ETumey — 36.55°N, 120.55°WLindos Bay — 36.09°N, 28.01°ELindos Bay — 36.26°N, 28.17°ELindos Bay — 36.36°N, 28.21°ECook Mountain — 31.33°N, 95.52°WCook Mountain — 32.03°N, 88.70°WKuri — 35.42°N, 132.94°ERupel — 51.22°N, 12.33°EGatun — 9.36°N, 79.84°WLellinge Greensand — 55.71°N, 12.60°EPalos Verdes Sand — 33.66°N, 117.90°WPalos Verdes Sand — 33.99°N, 118.45°WPshekha Horizon — 44.74°N, 39.81°EKreyenhagen — 36.90°N, 120.28°WKreyenhagen — 36.55°N, 120.55°WTsurevsky — 44.41°N, 39.79°ERifle Butts — 45.03°S, 170.02°E

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The named rock units Clupeidae has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 70 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 249 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Clupeidae and its relatives

Miocene

Where Clupeidae and its relatives were recorded in the Miocene.

Found in the same rock

4,433 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 272 sites for Clupeidae, and this reads 240 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

167 references

Each of the 415 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. 155 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 Clupeidae

Credit
Unknown author Unknown author
Licence
Public Domain
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Clupeidae 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 itClupeoidei through timeFormations of the MioceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Cuvier 1817