Lophiiformes

The anglerfish are ray-finned fish in the order Lophiiformes. Both the order's common and scientific name comes from the characteristic mode of predation, in which a modified dorsal fin ray acts as a lure for prey. The modified fin ray, with the very tip being the esca and the length of the structure the illicium, is adapted to attract specific prey items across the families of anglerfish by using different luring methods.

Lophiiformes

Anthropophoca · 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
Also called
anglerfishPBDB
Sits inside
EupercariaPBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB
Life habit
nektonicPBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB

Time the record covers

At least 55 million years on record.

The record covers at least 56 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 66 Mya to 0 Mya.

Late Cretaceous — about 0 of 83 occurrencesPaleocene — about 1 of 83 occurrencesPaleoceneEocene — about 26 of 83 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 10 of 83 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 37 of 83 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 6 of 83 occurrencesPleistocene — about 2 of 83 occurrences67–65 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences65–63 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences63–61 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences61–58 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences58–56 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences56–54 Mya — about 3 occurrences54–52 Mya — about 3 occurrences52–49 Mya — about 3 occurrences49–47 Mya — about 3 occurrences47–45 Mya — about 2 occurrences45–43 Mya — about 2 occurrences43–40 Mya — about 4 occurrences40–38 Mya — about 3 occurrences38–36 Mya — about 2 occurrences36–34 Mya — about 1 occurrence34–31 Mya — about 2 occurrences31–29 Mya — about 2 occurrences29–27 Mya — about 2 occurrences27–25 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences25–22 Mya — about 2 occurrences22–20 Mya — about 1 occurrence20–18 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences18–16 Mya — about 2 occurrences16–13 Mya — about 3 occurrences13–11 Mya — about 4 occurrences11–9.0 Mya — about 9 occurrences9.0–6.7 Mya — about 9 occurrences6.7–4.5 Mya — about 10 occurrences4.5–2.2 Mya — about 4 occurrences2.2–0 Mya — about 3 occurrences56 Mya11.7 ka67 Mya0 Mya

83 occurrences of Lophiiformes 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

83 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

Puente — 39.98°N, 117.97°WPuente — 34.06°N, 118.29°WBoom — 51.09°N, 4.36°EBoom — 51.11°N, 4.33°ERaz-el-Ain — 35.71°N, 0.64°WMonterey — 34.61°N, 120.44°WWaihao Greensand — 44.40°S, 171.04°EWaihao Greensand — 44.80°S, 170.98°ESant’Agata Fossili — 45.07°N, 7.94°EMiretrain Marl — 43.56°N, 1.11°WAcredale — 36.79°N, 76.17°WYorktown — 35.36°N, 76.82°WKempsville — 36.79°N, 76.17°WSables d'Anvers — 51.13°N, 4.29°EBarton Clay — 50.74°N, 1.66°WDeist — 51.19°N, 4.46°EKurasi — 47.87°N, 142.10°ECatahoula — 31.66°N, 88.66°WDonzacq Marl — 43.75°N, 0.84°WPiney Point — 37.61°N, 76.76°WArgille Azzurre — 43.31°N, 11.49°E

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Lophiiformes has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 51 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Lophiiformes and its relatives

Miocene

Where Lophiiformes and its relatives were recorded in the Miocene.

Found in the same rock

2,227 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 62 sites for Lophiiformes, 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

46 references

Each of the 83 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. 34 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 Lophiiformes

Credit
Anthropophoca
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 itEupercaria through timeFormations of the MioceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0.