Hydrocynus

Hydrocynus is a genus of Characin fish in the family Alestidae commonly called "tigerfish," native to Africa. The genus name is derived from Ancient Greek ὕδωρ ("water") + κύων ("dog"). The genus contains five species, all commonly known as "African tigerfish" for their fierce predatory behaviour and other characteristics that make them excellent game fish. Hydrocynus are normally piscivorous, but H. vittatus is proven to prey on birds in flight.

Hydrocynus

Cedricguppy - Loury Cédric · 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
AlestidaePBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
freshwaterPBDB, for Characiformes

Time the record covers

At least 39 million years on record.

The record covers at least 41.03 Mya to 1.8 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 48.07 Mya to 11.7 ka.

Eocene — about 5 of 78 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 2 of 78 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 21 of 78 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 23 of 78 occurrencesPleistocene — about 27 of 78 occurrences49–47 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences47–46 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences46–44 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences44–42 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences42–41 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences41–39 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences39–38 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences38–36 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences36–34 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences34–33 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences28–26 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences26–25 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences25–23 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences23–21 Mya — about 1 occurrence21–20 Mya — about 1 occurrence20–18 Mya — about 2 occurrences18–16 Mya — about 2 occurrences16–15 Mya — about 1 occurrence15–13 Mya — about 1 occurrence13–11 Mya — about 1 occurrence11–9.8 Mya — about 2 occurrences9.8–8.2 Mya — about 2 occurrences8.2–6.5 Mya — about 3 occurrences6.5–4.9 Mya — about 6 occurrences4.9–3.3 Mya — about 13 occurrences3.3–1.6 Mya — about 26 occurrences1.6–0 Mya — about 8 occurrences41.03 Mya1.8 Mya49 Mya0 Mya

78 occurrences of Hydrocynus 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

78 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

18 formations

Koobi Fora — 3.90°N, 36.24°EKoobi Fora — 3.98°N, 36.32°EKoobi Fora — 4.07°N, 36.37°EKoobi Fora — 4.22°N, 36.43°EKoobi Fora — 3.95°N, 36.42°EKoobi Fora — 3.87°N, 36.37°EKoobi Fora — 3.89°N, 36.29°EKoobi Fora — 3.75°N, 36.36°EKoobi Fora — 3.73°N, 36.43°EKoobi Fora — 3.70°N, 36.32°EKoobi Fora — 4.31°N, 36.22°EKoobi Fora — 4.06°N, 36.33°EKoobi Fora — 3.57°N, 36.33°EKoobi Fora — 3.59°N, 36.24°EKoobi Fora — 3.78°N, 36.33°ENkondo — 1.50°N, 31.00°ENachukui — 4.25°N, 35.79°ENachukui — 2.90°N, 36.05°ENyaburogo — 1.00°N, 30.50°ENyakabingo — 1.00°N, 30.50°EWarwire — 1.50°N, 31.00°EShungura — 5.08°N, 36.03°ENyabusosi — 1.00°N, 30.50°EWembere-Manonga — 3.88°S, 33.72°EKakara — 1.00°N, 30.50°EMuluk — 30.42°N, 30.25°EKaiso Village — 1.50°N, 31.00°ENawata — 2.90°N, 36.05°ENawata or Nachukui — 2.90°N, 36.05°ELusso Beds — 0.03°N, 29.62°ELokone Sandstone — 2.22°N, 35.57°ENsungwe — 8.90°S, 33.45°EMaradah — 28.58°N, 19.90°E

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The named rock units Hydrocynus has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 8 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Hydrocynus and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Hydrocynus and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

533 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 78 sites for Hydrocynus, 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

35 references

Each of the 78 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. 23 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 Hydrocynus

Credit
Cedricguppy - Loury Cédric
Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan was found. Smithsonian Open Access, MorphoSource and Sketchfab were all searched.

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 itAlestidae through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Cuvier 1816