Opsanus

Opsanus is a genus of toadfishes found in the western Atlantic Ocean. It currently has six recognised species, with the latest one described in 2005.

Opsanus

Uncredited · 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
Sits inside
BatrachoididaePBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Batrachoidiformes
Life habit
nektobenthicPBDB, for Batrachoidiformes
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Batrachoidiformes

Time the record covers

At least 3.4 million years on record.

The record covers at least 3.6 Mya to 129 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 5.333 Mya to 11.7 ka.

Miocene — about 0 of 7 occurrencesPliocene — about 2 of 7 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 5 of 7 occurrencesPleistoceneHolocene — about 0 of 7 occurrences5.4–5.3 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences5.3–5.1 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences5.1–4.9 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences4.9–4.7 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences4.7–4.5 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences4.5–4.3 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences4.3–4.1 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences4.1–3.9 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences3.9–3.7 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences3.7–3.5 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences3.5–3.3 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences3.3–3.1 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences3.1–2.9 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences2.9–2.7 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences2.7–2.5 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences1.9–1.8 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences1.8–1.6 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences1.6–1.4 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences1.4–1.2 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences1.2–972 ka Mya — about 0.2 occurrences972 ka–778 ka Mya — about 0.2 occurrences778 ka–583 ka Mya — about 0.0 occurrences389 ka–194 ka Mya — about 0.1 occurrences194 ka–0 Mya — about 4 occurrences3.6 Mya129 ka5.8 Mya0 Mya

7 occurrences of Opsanus on record, most of them in the Pleistocene. 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

7 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

6 formations

Fort Thompson — 27.80°N, 82.80°WAcredale — 36.79°N, 76.17°WYorktown — 35.36°N, 76.82°WKempsville — 36.79°N, 76.17°WTamiami — 27.34°N, 82.51°WBermont — 27.70°N, 82.50°W

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The named rock units Opsanus has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 1 occurrence has no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Opsanus and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Opsanus and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

671 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 6 sites for Opsanus, 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

7 references

Each of the 7 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 content1

Picture of Opsanus

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

No 3D scan of Opsanus 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 itBatrachoididae through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Rafinesque 1818