Ctenacanthiformes

Ctenacanthiformes is an extinct order of cartilaginous fish. They possessed ornamented fin spines at the front of their dorsal fins and cladodont-type dentition, that is typically of a grasping morphology, though some taxa developed cutting and gouging tooth morphologies. Some ctenacanths are thought to have reached sizes comparable to the great white shark, with body lengths of up to 7 metres (23 ft) and weights of 1,500–2,500 kilograms (3,300–5,500 lb), while others reached lengths of only 30 centimetres (12 in). The earliest ctenacanths appeared during the Frasnian stage of the Late Devonian, with the group reaching their greatest diversity during the Early Carboniferous (Mississippian). Their biodiversity entered into a state of decline by the end of the Carboniferous, but were still prominent meso-predators and apex predators in several marine ecosystems well into the Middle Permian (Guadalupian). The youngest confirmed geologic records of the group date to the Early Triassic (Olenekian).

Ctenacanthiformes

Gasmasque · 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
CtenacanthimorphaPBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB
Life habit
nektonicPBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB

Time the record covers

At least 364 million years on record.

The record covers at least 387.95 Mya to 23.04 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 410.62 Mya to 15.98 Mya.

Devonian — about 16 of 279 occurrencesDevonianCarboniferous — about 121 of 279 occurrencesCarboniferousPermian — about 126 of 279 occurrencesPermianEarly Triassic — about 2 of 279 occurrencesMiddle Triassic — about 1 of 279 occurrencesLate Triassic — about 10 of 279 occurrencesLate TriassicEarly Jurassic — about 0 of 279 occurrencesMiddle Jurassic — about 0 of 279 occurrencesLate Jurassic — about 0 of 279 occurrencesEarly Cretaceous — about 2 of 279 occurrencesEarly CretaceousLate Cretaceous — about 0 of 279 occurrencesPaleocene — about 0 of 279 occurrencesEocene — about 0 of 279 occurrencesOligocene — about 0 of 279 occurrencesMiocene — about 1 of 279 occurrences419–405 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences405–391 Mya — about 2 occurrences391–377 Mya — about 3 occurrences377–364 Mya — about 9 occurrences364–350 Mya — about 13 occurrences350–336 Mya — about 18 occurrences336–323 Mya — about 12 occurrences323–309 Mya — about 42 occurrences309–295 Mya — about 45 occurrences295–282 Mya — about 17 occurrences282–268 Mya — about 38 occurrences268–254 Mya — about 59 occurrences254–241 Mya — about 7 occurrences241–227 Mya — about 4 occurrences227–213 Mya — about 2 occurrences213–200 Mya — about 4 occurrences200–186 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences145–131 Mya — about 2 occurrences35–22 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences22–8.1 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences387.95 Mya23.04 Mya419 Mya8 Mya

279 occurrences of Ctenacanthiformes on record, most of them in the Permian. 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

279 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

80 formations

Khuff — 20.86°N, 57.60°EKhuff — 21.01°N, 57.67°EKaibab — 35.10°N, 111.69°WKaibab — 35.19°N, 111.67°WLinton — 39.72°N, 87.32°WLinton — 39.79°N, 87.38°WLinton — 39.46°N, 87.19°WLinton — 40.46°N, 86.96°WLinton — 40.94°N, 90.27°WMinturn — 39.91°N, 106.73°WCarbondale — 39.28°N, 89.88°WCarbondale — 38.28°N, 87.17°WCarbondale — 41.18°N, 88.25°WKupferschiefer — 52.23°N, 7.96°EKupferschiefer — 50.97°N, 10.01°EPhosphoria — 43.35°N, 109.40°WPhosphoria — 42.75°N, 108.80°WPhosphoria — 43.19°N, 109.16°WPhosphoria — 42.67°N, 108.68°WZechstein — 51.23°N, 8.89°EZechstein — 51.49°N, 6.55°EZechstein — 49.89°N, 9.35°EGullane — 55.98°N, 3.21°WCutoff — 31.82°N, 104.83°WCutoff — 31.94°N, 104.89°WCutoff — 31.98°N, 104.88°WGrenola — 38.95°N, 96.40°WGrenola — 39.00°N, 96.60°WStaunton — 39.85°N, 87.30°WStaunton — 39.96°N, 87.39°WHeath — 46.54°N, 110.43°WHeath — 46.67°N, 109.13°WHeath — 46.95°N, 108.96°WIchinotani — 36.22°N, 137.51°EForaker Limestone — 39.27°N, 96.44°WForaker Limestone — 39.38°N, 96.40°WForaker Limestone — 39.91°N, 95.91°WZewan — 34.00°N, 75.00°EZewan — 34.09°N, 74.98°EAkasaka — 35.40°N, 136.58°EGrès de Mortinsart — 49.70°N, 5.66°EGrès de Mortinsart — 49.75°N, 5.79°EAmes — 40.46°N, 79.71°WAmes — 40.04°N, 81.42°WAmes — 39.47°N, 82.06°WTiki — 23.90°N, 81.35°ETiki — 23.91°N, 81.33°ECutoff / Brushy Canyon — 31.83°N, 104.86°WBell Canyon — 31.94°N, 104.74°WBell Canyon — 31.98°N, 104.75°WBell Canyon — 31.98°N, 104.75°WRed Eagle Limestone — 39.39°N, 96.40°WRed Eagle Limestone — 39.19°N, 96.56°WPimenteira — 7.00°S, 42.00°W

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The named rock units Ctenacanthiformes has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 56 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 52 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Ctenacanthiformes and its relatives

Permian

Where Ctenacanthiformes and its relatives were recorded in the Permian.

Found in the same rock

903 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 202 sites for Ctenacanthiformes, 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

92 references

Each of the 279 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. 80 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 Ctenacanthiformes

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

No 3D scan of Ctenacanthiformes 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 itCtenacanthimorpha through timeFormations of the PermianThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Cappetta 1988