Gobiidae

Gobiidae or gobies is a family of bony fish in the order Gobiiformes, one of the largest fish families comprising over 2,000 species in more than 200 genera. Most of gobiid fish are relatively small, typically less than 10 cm (3.9 in) in length, and the family includes some of the smallest vertebrates in the world, such as Trimmatom nanus and Pandaka pygmaea. Trimmatom nanus are under 1 cm long when fully grown, while the Pandaka pygmaea standard length is 9 mm (0.35 in), with a maximum known standard length of 11 mm (0.43 in). Some large gobies can reach over 30 cm (0.98 ft) in length, but that is exceptional. Generally, they are benthic or bottom-dwellers. Although few are important as food fish for humans, they are of great significance as prey species for other commercially important fish such as cod, haddock, sea bass and flatfish. Several gobiids are also of interest as aquarium fish, such as the dartfish of the genus Ptereleotris. Phylogenetic relationships of gobiids have been studied using molecular data.

Gobiidae

Etrusko25 · 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
gobyPBDB
Sits inside
GobiiformesPBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes

Time the record covers

At least 47 million years on record.

The record covers at least 48.07 Mya to 129 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 143.1 Mya to 0 Mya.

Late Jurassic — about 0 of 408 occurrencesEarly Cretaceous — about 0 of 408 occurrencesEarly CretaceousLate Cretaceous — about 0 of 408 occurrencesLate CretaceousPaleocene — about 0 of 408 occurrencesEocene — about 8 of 408 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 11 of 408 occurrencesMiocene — about 213 of 408 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 57 of 408 occurrencesPleistocene — about 118 of 408 occurrences146–141 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences141–136 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences136–131 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences131–127 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences127–122 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences122–117 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences117–112 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences112–107 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences107–102 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences102–97 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences97–92 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences92–88 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences88–83 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences83–78 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences78–73 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences73–68 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences68–63 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences63–58 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences58–54 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences54–49 Mya — about 1 occurrence49–44 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences44–39 Mya — about 2 occurrences39–34 Mya — about 3 occurrences34–29 Mya — about 3 occurrences29–24 Mya — about 6 occurrences24–19 Mya — about 17 occurrences19–15 Mya — about 31 occurrences15–9.7 Mya — about 69 occurrences9.7–4.9 Mya — about 108 occurrences4.9–0 Mya — about 165 occurrences48.07 Mya129 ka146 Mya0 Mya

408 occurrences of Gobiidae 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

408 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

43 formations

Lindos Bay — 36.09°N, 28.01°ELindos Bay — 36.26°N, 28.17°ELindos Bay — 36.36°N, 28.21°EHrušky — 48.81°N, 16.63°EQuilon — 8.81°N, 76.65°ERaz-el-Ain — 35.71°N, 0.64°WGatun — 9.35°N, 79.80°WGatun — 9.36°N, 79.84°WSant’Agata Fossili — 45.07°N, 7.94°EPalos Verdes Sand — 33.66°N, 117.90°WPalos Verdes Sand — 33.99°N, 118.45°WPalos Verdes Sand — 33.75°N, 118.29°WPalos Verdes Sand — 33.75°N, 118.29°WGutingkeng — 23.04°N, 120.43°EGutingkeng — 22.84°N, 120.41°ENarita — 35.35°N, 140.10°ENarita — 35.78°N, 140.32°EUpper Freshwater Molasse — 48.66°N, 10.23°EUpper Freshwater Molasse — 48.63°N, 11.80°EUpper Freshwater Molasse — 48.16°N, 10.11°Efacies à Congeria — 45.05°N, 7.93°EBrackwater Molasse — 48.48°N, 10.10°EOosterhout — 51.70°N, 5.73°EMonterey — 34.08°N, 118.17°WEger — 47.92°N, 20.37°EKishima — 33.38°N, 129.93°ECambay Shale — 21.33°N, 72.98°EMandrové — 1.09°S, 8.94°EMarnes de Saint-Etienne-d’Orthe — 43.57°N, 1.10°WMiri — 4.87°N, 114.86°EMiri — 4.87°N, 114.79°ESeria — 4.81°N, 114.67°ETimms Point Silt — 33.73°N, 118.28°WYazoo — 31.93°N, 91.94°WOnzole — 0.87°N, 79.89°W

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The named rock units Gobiidae has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 19 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 287 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Gobiidae and its relatives

Miocene

Where Gobiidae and its relatives were recorded in the Miocene.

Found in the same rock

2,613 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 171 sites for Gobiidae, 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

99 references

Each of the 408 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. 87 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 content3

Picture of Gobiidae

Credit
Etrusko25
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
Gobiidae indet. · MCZ:Ich:27955

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike
Commercial use
the licence does not allow it

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 itGobiiformes through timeFormations of the MioceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Bonaparte 1832