Ophidiiformes

Ophidiiformes is an order of ray-finned fish that includes the cusk-eels, pearlfishes, viviparous brotulas, and others. Members of this order have small heads and long slender bodies. They have either smooth scales or no scales, a long dorsal fin and an anal fin that typically runs into the caudal fin. They mostly come from the tropics and subtropics, and live in both freshwater and marine habitats, including abyssal depths. They have adopted a range of feeding methods and lifestyles, including parasitism. The majority are egg-laying, but some are viviparous.

Ophidiiformes

Uncredited · Public Domain · via Wikidata/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
OphidiariaPBDB
Diet
carnivore, parasitePBDB
Life habit
nektobenthicPBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB

Time the record covers

At least 65 million years on record.

The record covers at least 66 Mya to 129 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 72.2 Mya to 0 Mya.

Late Cretaceous — about 1 of 705 occurrencesLate CretaceousPaleocene — about 18 of 705 occurrencesPaleoceneEocene — about 285 of 705 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 99 of 705 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 201 of 705 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 41 of 705 occurrencesPleistocene — about 59 of 705 occurrences74–71 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences71–69 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences69–66 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences66–64 Mya — about 1 occurrence64–61 Mya — about 2 occurrences61–59 Mya — about 11 occurrences59–56 Mya — about 3 occurrences56–54 Mya — about 10 occurrences54–52 Mya — about 13 occurrences52–49 Mya — about 17 occurrences49–47 Mya — about 37 occurrences47–44 Mya — about 50 occurrences44–42 Mya — about 52 occurrences42–39 Mya — about 49 occurrences39–37 Mya — about 32 occurrences37–34 Mya — about 21 occurrences34–32 Mya — about 18 occurrences32–29 Mya — about 17 occurrences29–27 Mya — about 19 occurrences27–25 Mya — about 31 occurrences25–22 Mya — about 24 occurrences22–20 Mya — about 19 occurrences20–17 Mya — about 43 occurrences17–15 Mya — about 44 occurrences15–12 Mya — about 17 occurrences12–9.8 Mya — about 24 occurrences9.8–7.4 Mya — about 27 occurrences7.4–4.9 Mya — about 27 occurrences4.9–2.5 Mya — about 37 occurrences2.5–0 Mya — about 57 occurrences66 Mya129 ka74 Mya0 Mya

705 occurrences of Ophidiiformes on record, most of them in the Eocene. 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

705 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

97 formations

Miretrain Marl — 43.56°N, 1.11°WBoom Clay — 51.13°N, 4.26°EBoom Clay — 51.09°N, 4.40°EBoom Clay — 51.19°N, 4.32°EWeches — 28.96°N, 98.48°WWeches — 30.00°N, 97.15°WWeches — 31.51°N, 94.35°WWeches — 31.22°N, 96.04°WStone City — 30.53°N, 96.69°WStone City — 30.63°N, 96.54°WStone City — 30.67°N, 96.56°WPalos Verdes Sand — 33.66°N, 117.90°WPalos Verdes Sand — 33.99°N, 118.45°WPalos Verdes Sand — 33.60°N, 117.88°WPalos Verdes Sand — 33.76°N, 118.28°WPalos Verdes Sand — 33.75°N, 118.29°WMount Harris — 44.20°S, 170.71°EMount Harris — 44.48°S, 170.90°EMount Harris — 45.21°S, 170.88°EMount Harris — 44.30°S, 170.99°EMount Harris — 44.49°S, 171.01°EMount Harris — 44.82°S, 170.88°EMount Harris — 45.06°S, 170.95°EMount Harris — 45.03°S, 171.02°EMount Harris — 44.79°S, 171.03°ECook Mountain — 30.64°N, 96.51°WCook Mountain — 30.61°N, 96.57°WCook Mountain — 31.33°N, 95.52°WCook Mountain — 32.03°N, 88.70°WWaihao Greensand — 44.80°S, 170.98°EWaihao Greensand — 44.40°S, 171.04°ENavidad — 33.91°S, 71.84°WNavidad — 33.95°S, 71.87°WSelsey — 50.80°N, 1.21°WDonzacq Marl — 43.75°N, 0.84°WAalter — 50.79°N, 2.78°EAalter — 51.09°N, 3.46°EAalter — 51.19°N, 3.31°EGatun — 9.35°N, 79.80°WGatun — 9.36°N, 79.84°WGatun — 9.33°N, 79.89°WLindos Bay — 36.09°N, 28.01°ELindos Bay — 36.26°N, 28.17°ELindos Bay — 36.36°N, 28.21°ERifle Butts Siltstone — 45.14°S, 170.93°ENanjemoy — 38.42°N, 77.00°WNanjemoy — 37.75°N, 77.33°W“upper” Lisbon — 31.82°N, 88.24°WTashlik — 49.06°N, 31.90°EBowden — 17.88°N, 76.28°WSouthburn Sand — 44.42°S, 170.89°ESouthburn Sand — 44.30°S, 171.00°ECalcaire Grossier — 49.31°N, 2.25°EBarton Beds — 50.74°N, 1.69°WLondon Clay — 50.83°N, 0.78°WLondon Clay — 51.51°N, 0.24°ELondon Clay — 51.40°N, 0.83°EBarton Clay — 51.02°N, 1.32°WBarton Clay — 50.74°N, 1.69°W

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The named rock units Ophidiiformes has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 73 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 271 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Ophidiiformes and its relatives

Eocene

Where Ophidiiformes and its relatives were recorded in the Eocene.

Found in the same rock

3,742 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 316 sites for Ophidiiformes, and this reads 240 of them. Of that, one read hit the database's own return limit, so every count below is a floor rather than a total. 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

113 references

Each of the 705 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. 101 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 Ophidiiformes

Credit
nobody named on the record
Licence
Public Domain
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Ophidiiformes was found in Sketchfab.

Smithsonian Open Access and MorphoSource were 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 itOphidiaria through timeFormations of the EoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. (Berg 1937)