Coelacanthiformes

Coelacanths are an ancient group of lobe-finned fish (Sarcopterygii) in the class Actinistia. As sarcopterygians, they are more closely related to lungfish and tetrapods than to ray-finned fish. There is only a single living genus, Latimeria, with two described species.

Coelacanthiformes

Bruce A.S. Henderson · CC BY 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
Also called
coelacanthPBDB
Sits inside
ActinistiaPBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes

Time the record covers

At least 310 million years on record.

The record covers at least 382.31 Mya to 72.2 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 393.47 Mya to 66 Mya.

Devonian — about 5 of 305 occurrencesDevonianCarboniferous — about 14 of 305 occurrencesCarboniferousPermian — about 16 of 305 occurrencesPermianEarly Triassic — about 53 of 305 occurrencesMiddle Triassic — about 39 of 305 occurrencesLate Triassic — about 63 of 305 occurrencesLate TriassicEarly Jurassic — about 21 of 305 occurrencesMiddle Jurassic — about 8 of 305 occurrencesLate Jurassic — about 24 of 305 occurrencesEarly Cretaceous — about 26 of 305 occurrencesEarly CretaceousLate Cretaceous — about 36 of 305 occurrencesLate CretaceousPaleocene — about 0 of 305 occurrences400–389 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences389–377 Mya — about 3 occurrences377–366 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences366–355 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences355–343 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences343–332 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences332–321 Mya — about 3 occurrences321–309 Mya — about 3 occurrences309–298 Mya — about 8 occurrences264–252 Mya — about 16 occurrences252–241 Mya — about 83 occurrences241–230 Mya — about 15 occurrences230–218 Mya — about 21 occurrences218–207 Mya — about 30 occurrences207–196 Mya — about 18 occurrences196–184 Mya — about 4 occurrences184–173 Mya — about 7 occurrences173–162 Mya — about 7 occurrences162–150 Mya — about 12 occurrences150–139 Mya — about 15 occurrences139–128 Mya — about 3 occurrences128–116 Mya — about 9 occurrences116–105 Mya — about 8 occurrences105–94 Mya — about 23 occurrences94–82 Mya — about 6 occurrences82–71 Mya — about 8 occurrences71–59 Mya — about 2 occurrences382.31 Mya72.2 Mya400 Mya59 Mya

305 occurrences of Coelacanthiformes on record, most of them in the Late Triassic. 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

305 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

110 formations

Besano — 45.91°N, 8.94°EKongressfjellet — 78.27°N, 16.97°EKongressfjellet — 78.24°N, 17.21°EKongressfjellet — 78.25°N, 17.84°EKongressfjellet — 78.28°N, 17.63°EKongressfjellet — 78.25°N, 18.06°EKongressfjellet — 78.57°N, 15.32°ELockatong — 40.81°N, 74.02°WLockatong — 40.20°N, 75.27°WLockatong — 40.17°N, 75.35°WLockatong — 40.13°N, 75.52°WLockatong — 40.42°N, 75.06°WChinle — 34.44°N, 109.46°WChinle — 36.33°N, 106.47°WChinle — 36.09°N, 111.36°WChinle — 35.65°N, 111.12°WChinle — 34.68°N, 109.58°WChinle — 34.83°N, 109.82°WChinle — 38.13°N, 109.18°WChinle — 38.28°N, 108.90°WChinle — 38.15°N, 109.20°WKupferschiefer — 52.23°N, 7.96°EKupferschiefer — 50.97°N, 10.01°EBahariya — 28.40°N, 28.89°EBahariya — 28.43°N, 28.96°EBahariya — 28.45°N, 29.04°EWild Cow — 34.95°N, 106.30°WRaisby — 54.69°N, 1.52°WRaisby — 54.63°N, 1.63°WRaisby — 54.93°N, 1.41°WRomualdo — 7.52°S, 39.57°WRomualdo — 7.51°S, 39.55°WRomualdo — 7.47°S, 39.76°WRomualdo — 7.55°S, 40.57°WBrejo Santo — 7.25°S, 39.12°WBrejo Santo — 7.50°S, 39.00°WBrejo Santo — 7.17°S, 39.31°WProsanto — 46.75°N, 9.72°EProsanto — 46.68°N, 9.82°EStockton — 40.86°N, 73.96°WStockton — 40.33°N, 74.65°WTacuarembó — 31.88°S, 56.02°WTacuarembó — 31.70°S, 55.96°WTacuarembó — 31.87°S, 55.90°WTacuarembó — 31.80°S, 56.13°WTecovas — 33.45°N, 101.17°WTecovas — 33.42°N, 101.13°WKota — 18.92°N, 79.98°EKota — 19.19°N, 79.74°EKota — 18.69°N, 80.22°ESulphur Mountain — 54.53°N, 120.74°WSulphur Mountain — 54.53°N, 120.76°WMuschelkalk — 41.27°N, 1.12°EMiddle Sakamena — 13.05°S, 48.87°EHelongshan — 31.63°N, 117.83°EHelongshan — 31.79°N, 118.19°EAnoual — 32.52°N, 3.11°WAnoual — 32.73°N, 3.14°WAnoual — 32.73°N, 3.15°WGara Sbaa — 30.51°N, 4.84°WKsar Metlili — 32.70°N, 3.22°WColorado City — 32.17°N, 101.25°WColorado City — 32.13°N, 101.25°WGrès à Reptiles — 43.35°N, 2.95°E

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The named rock units Coelacanthiformes has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 86 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 54 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Coelacanthiformes and its relatives

Late Triassic

Where Coelacanthiformes and its relatives were recorded in the Late Triassic.

Found in the same rock

1,855 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 263 sites for Coelacanthiformes, 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

173 references

Each of the 305 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. 161 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 Coelacanthiformes

Credit
Bruce A.S. Henderson
Licence
CC BY 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Coelacanthiformes 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 itActinistia through timeFormations of the Late TriassicThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Berg 1937