Hexanchus vitulus

The Atlantic sixgill shark is one of the five extant species of the Hexanchidae family of cow sharks. They are found in the Atlantic Ocean at depths that are greater than 300 meters. Due to their habitat being difficult to access for humans, they are rarely encountered and hard to study. The Atlantic sixgill shark is very similar to other species of cow shark in terms of its morphology and growth rate in deep sea waters. It is believed that this is due to the abiotic and biotic factors in relation to the depths at which they are found. It was first described as its own species in 1969, but was later synonymized with the morphologically similar bigeye sixgill shark. However, a study published in 2018 resurrected the species on the basis of molecular data.

Hexanchus vitulus

Haplochromis · CC0 · 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
Atlantic bigeye sixgill sharkPBDB
Sits inside
HexanchusPBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Hexanchiformes
Life habit
nektonicPBDB, for Hexanchiformes
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Hexanchiformes

Time the record covers

At most 2.2 million years on record.

The one occurrence read is dated to somewhere between 13.82 Mya and 11.63 Mya, which is a dating window rather than a span.

Miocene — about 1 of 1 occurrenceMiocene14–14 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences14–14 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences14–14 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences14–13 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences13–13 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences13–13 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences13–13 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences13–13 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences13–13 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences13–13 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences13–13 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences13–13 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences13–13 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences13–12 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences12–12 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences12–12 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences12–12 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences12–12 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences12–12 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences12–12 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences12–12 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences12–12 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences14.32 Mya11.13 Mya

1 occurrence of Hexanchus vitulus on record, most of them in the Miocene. 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

1 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

1 formation

Sables des Landes — 43.94°N, 0.75°W

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The named rock units Hexanchus vitulus has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed.

Hexanchus vitulus and its relatives

Miocene

Where Hexanchus vitulus and its relatives were recorded in the Miocene.

Found in the same rock

36 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 1 site for Hexanchus vitulus, 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

1 reference

Each of the 1 occurrence 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. Each entry links to the Paleobiology Database's own record for the work.

Media and terms

Media content2

Picture of Hexanchus vitulus

Credit
Haplochromis
Licence
CC0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

CT scan

Licence
not stated by the source
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Hexanchus vitulus · uf:fish:246748

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 itHexanchus through timeFormations of the MioceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Springer and Waller 1969