Lamna nasus

The porbeagle or porbeagle shark is a species of mackerel shark in the family Lamnidae, distributed widely in the cold and temperate marine waters of the North Atlantic and Southern Hemisphere. In the North Pacific, its ecological equivalent is the closely related salmon shark (L. ditropis). It typically reaches 2.5 m (8.2 ft) in length and a weight of 135 kg (298 lb); North Atlantic sharks grow larger than Southern Hemisphere sharks and differ in coloration and aspects of life history. Grey above and white below, the porbeagle has a very stout midsection that tapers towards the long, pointed snout and the narrow base of the tail. It has large pectoral and first dorsal fins, tiny pelvic, second dorsal, and anal fins, and a crescent-shaped caudal fin. The most distinctive features of this species are its three-cusped teeth, the white blotch at the aft base of its first dorsal fin, and the two pairs of lateral keels on its tail.

Lamna nasus

NOAA · 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
porbeaglePBDB
Sits inside
LamnaPBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Lamniformes
Life habit
nektonicPBDB, for Lamniformes
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Lamniformes

Time the record covers

At least 1.7 million years on record.

The record covers at least 5.333 Mya to 3.6 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 23.04 Mya to 2.58 Mya.

Oligocene — about 0 of 5 occurrencesMiocene — about 2 of 5 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 3 of 5 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 0 of 5 occurrences24–23 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences23–22 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences22–21 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences21–21 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences21–20 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences20–19 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences19–19 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences19–18 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences18–17 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences17–16 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences16–16 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences16–15 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences15–14 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences14–14 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences14–13 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences13–12 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences12–11 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences11–11 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences11–9.9 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences9.9–9.2 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences9.2–8.5 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences8.5–7.8 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences7.8–7.1 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences7.1–6.4 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences6.4–5.7 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences5.7–4.9 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences4.9–4.2 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences4.2–3.5 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences3.5–2.8 Mya — about 1 occurrence2.8–2.1 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences5.333 Mya – 3.6 Mya23.5 Mya2.1 Mya

5 occurrences of Lamna nasus on record, most of them in the Pliocene. 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

5 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

5 formations

Bredasdorp & Varswater — 32.98°S, 18.15°EBreda — 51.47°N, 5.80°EArgille Azzurre — 43.31°N, 11.49°EKattendijk — 51.26°N, 4.27°ELillo — 51.27°N, 4.33°E

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

Lamna nasus and its relatives

Pliocene

Where Lamna nasus and its relatives were recorded in the Pliocene.

Found in the same rock

87 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 5 sites for Lamna nasus, 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

5 references

Each of the 5 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 content3

Picture of Lamna nasus

Credit
NOAA
Licence
Public Domain
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
Lamna nasus · L-MEP:LN650_248.0FL_female

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Credit
Nullified
Licence
CC Attribution
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record

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 itLamna through timeFormations of the PlioceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. (Bonnaterre 1788)