Diaphus theta

Diaphus theta, the California headlightfish, is a species of lanternfish found in the eastern Pacific Ocean.

Diaphus theta

Uncredited · 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
California headlightfishPBDB
Sits inside
DiaphusPBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Myctophiformes
Life habit
nektonicPBDB, for Myctophiformes
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Myctophiformes

Time the record covers

At least 1.8 million years on record.

The record covers at least 2.58 Mya to 774 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 3.6 Mya to 11.7 ka.

Pliocene — about 3 of 10 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 7 of 10 occurrencesPleistoceneHolocene — about 0 of 10 occurrences3.7–3.6 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences3.6–3.4 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences3.4–3.3 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences3.3–3.1 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences3.1–3.0 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences3.0–2.9 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences2.9–2.7 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences2.7–2.6 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences2.6–2.5 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences2.5–2.3 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences2.3–2.2 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences2.2–2.0 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences2.0–1.9 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences1.9–1.8 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences1.8–1.6 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences1.6–1.5 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences1.5–1.4 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences1.4–1.2 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences1.2–1.1 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences1.1–957 ka Mya — about 0.1 occurrences957 ka–820 ka Mya — about 0.1 occurrences820 ka–683 ka Mya — about 0.8 occurrences683 ka–547 ka Mya — about 1 occurrence547 ka–410 ka Mya — about 1 occurrence410 ka–273 ka Mya — about 1 occurrence273 ka–137 ka Mya — about 1 occurrence137 ka–0 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences2.58 Mya774 ka4.1 Mya0 Mya

10 occurrences of Diaphus theta 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

10 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

6 formations

Timms Point Silt — 33.73°N, 118.28°WPico — 33.59°N, 117.85°WPico — 34.05°N, 118.24°WSan Pedro — 34.17°N, 118.85°WLomita Marl — 33.75°N, 118.30°WSan Diego — 32.90°N, 117.10°WPort Orford — 42.83°N, 124.56°W

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Diaphus theta has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 2 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Diaphus theta and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Diaphus theta and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

175 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 10 sites for Diaphus theta, 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

3 references

Each of the 10 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. 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 content2

Picture of Diaphus theta

Credit
nobody named on the record
Licence
Public Domain
Commercial use
the licence allows it

CT scan

Licence
In Copyright
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Diaphus theta · SIO:Marine Vertebrates:11-296

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 itDiaphus through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Eigenmann and Eigenmann 1890