Paralichthyidae

Large-tooth flounders or sand flounders are a family, Paralichthyidae, of flounders. The family contains 14 genera with a total of about 110 species. They lie on the sea bed on their right side; both eyes are always on the left side of the head, while the Pleuronectidae usually have their eyes on the right side of the head.

Paralichthyidae

Arturodomiao · 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
PleuronectoideiPBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Pleuronectiformes
Life habit
nektobenthicPBDB, for Pleuronectiformes
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Pleuronectiformes

Time the record covers

At least 33 million years on record.

The record covers at least 33.9 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 37.71 Mya to 0 Mya.

Eocene — about 1 of 65 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 6 of 65 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 19 of 65 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 10 of 65 occurrencesPleistocene — about 28 of 65 occurrences38–37 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences37–36 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences36–35 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences35–33 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences33–32 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences32–31 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences31–29 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences29–28 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences28–27 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences27–26 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences26–24 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences24–23 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences23–22 Mya — about 1 occurrence22–21 Mya — about 1 occurrence21–19 Mya — about 2 occurrences19–18 Mya — about 2 occurrences18–17 Mya — about 2 occurrences17–15 Mya — about 1 occurrence15–14 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences14–13 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences13–12 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences12–10 Mya — about 2 occurrences10–9.0 Mya — about 2 occurrences9.0–7.7 Mya — about 2 occurrences7.7–6.4 Mya — about 1 occurrence6.4–5.1 Mya — about 1 occurrence5.1–3.8 Mya — about 4 occurrences3.8–2.6 Mya — about 6 occurrences2.6–1.3 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences1.3–0 Mya — about 28 occurrences33.9 Mya11.7 ka38.5 Mya0 Mya

65 occurrences of Paralichthyidae 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

65 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

24 formations

Palos Verdes Sand — 33.76°N, 118.29°WPalos Verdes Sand — 34.00°N, 118.20°WPalos Verdes Sand — 33.66°N, 117.90°WPalos Verdes Sand — 33.99°N, 118.45°WPalos Verdes Sand — 33.75°N, 118.29°WNavidad — 33.91°S, 71.84°WNavidad — 33.94°S, 71.85°WGatun — 9.36°N, 79.84°WSan Pedro — 33.75°N, 118.29°WTimms Point Silt — 33.73°N, 118.28°WByram — 31.57°N, 88.04°WYorktown — 35.36°N, 76.82°WPort Orford — 42.81°N, 124.53°WPort Orford — 42.83°N, 124.56°WLacui — 41.75°S, 73.84°WLacui — 42.69°S, 74.12°WHorcón — 32.70°S, 71.46°WRosefield — 31.89°N, 92.00°WYazoo — 31.93°N, 91.94°WCantaure — 11.97°N, 70.02°WOnzole — 0.87°N, 79.89°WSocorro — 11.38°N, 69.72°WPurisima — 37.28°N, 122.41°WMonterey — 34.61°N, 120.44°WBowden — 17.88°N, 76.28°WIwami — 35.48°N, 134.27°EWilson Grove — 38.34°N, 122.84°WRaz-el-Ain — 35.71°N, 0.64°WAshley — 32.97°N, 80.20°WRanquil — 37.59°S, 73.64°WMiyata — 35.19°N, 39.65°E

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Paralichthyidae has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 10 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Paralichthyidae and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Paralichthyidae and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

1,612 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 39 sites for Paralichthyidae, 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

31 references

Each of the 65 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. 19 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 Paralichthyidae

Credit
Arturodomiao
Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Paralichthyidae 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 itPleuronectoidei through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0.