Saurichthys

Saurichthys is an extinct genus of predatory ray-finned fish from the Triassic Period. It is the type genus of the family Saurichthyidae, and the most speciose and longest lasting genus in the family. This family also includes the Permian Eosaurichthys (China) and the Jurassic Saurorhynchus from Europe and North America, though it may be more appropriate to treat these as subgenera of Saurichthys, due to the genus Saurichthys otherwise being paraphyletic.

Saurichthys

Jonathan Chen · 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
SaurichthyidaePBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Saurichthyidae
Life habit
nektonicPBDB, for Saurichthyidae
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes

Time the record covers

At least 88 million years on record.

The record covers at least 256.8 Mya to 168.2 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 264.28 Mya to 165.3 Mya.

Permian — about 3 of 239 occurrencesPermianEarly Triassic — about 70 of 239 occurrencesMiddle Triassic — about 111 of 239 occurrencesMiddle TriassicLate Triassic — about 52 of 239 occurrencesLate TriassicEarly Jurassic — about 1 of 239 occurrencesEarly JurassicMiddle Jurassic — about 2 of 239 occurrencesMiddle Jurassic266–263 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences263–259 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences259–256 Mya — about 1 occurrence256–253 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences253–249 Mya — about 53 occurrences249–246 Mya — about 21 occurrences246–242 Mya — about 28 occurrences242–239 Mya — about 61 occurrences239–235 Mya — about 22 occurrences235–232 Mya — about 4 occurrences232–229 Mya — about 1 occurrence229–225 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences225–222 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences222–218 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences218–215 Mya — about 1 occurrence215–211 Mya — about 5 occurrences211–208 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences208–204 Mya — about 10 occurrences204–201 Mya — about 24 occurrences201–198 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences170–167 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences167–163 Mya — about 1 occurrence256.8 Mya168.2 Mya266 Mya163 Mya

239 occurrences of Saurichthys on record, most of them in the Middle Triassic. 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

239 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

60 formations

Cassina — 45.91°N, 8.95°EKongressfjellet — 78.24°N, 17.21°EKongressfjellet — 78.25°N, 17.84°EKongressfjellet — 78.28°N, 17.63°EKongressfjellet — 78.57°N, 15.32°EKongressfjellet — 78.62°N, 14.43°EKongressfjellet — 78.27°N, 16.97°EBesano — 45.91°N, 8.94°EMuschelkalk — 41.27°N, 1.12°EMuschelkalk — 42.13°N, 1.46°EWestbury — 53.03°N, 0.81°WWestbury — 51.32°N, 2.97°WWestbury — 51.24°N, 2.34°WWestbury — 51.82°N, 2.41°WWestbury — 51.93°N, 2.17°WWestbury — 51.60°N, 2.61°WWestbury — 51.18°N, 3.38°WSulphur Mountain — 54.53°N, 120.74°WSulphur Mountain — 54.54°N, 120.79°WGuanling — 24.78°N, 104.33°EGuanling — 25.52°N, 104.91°EMiddle Sakamena — 21.59°S, 45.37°EMiddle Sakamena — 13.51°S, 49.07°EMiddle Sakamena — 21.71°S, 45.18°EGrès de Mortinsart — 49.70°N, 5.66°EGrès de Mortinsart — 49.75°N, 5.79°ERybinsk — 58.02°N, 39.04°EKnocklofty — 42.79°S, 147.28°EKnocklofty — 43.08°S, 147.28°EKnocklofty — 42.80°S, 147.52°EBesano — 45.89°N, 8.90°EMuschelkalk — 50.01°N, 11.62°EMuschelkalk — 51.54°N, 9.96°EJilh — 26.39°N, 44.24°EJilh — 24.25°N, 45.63°EProsanto — 46.70°N, 9.84°EProsanto — 46.77°N, 9.75°EDolomia di Forni — 46.39°N, 12.93°ELealt Shale — 56.92°N, 6.15°WLealt Shale — 56.91°N, 6.11°WFavret — 40.06°N, 117.56°WSpray River — 51.22°N, 115.80°WSpray River — 54.54°N, 120.79°WWordie Creek — 74.20°N, 22.42°WExter — 48.56°N, 9.07°EExter — 51.57°N, 9.05°EPerledo-Varenna — 46.02°N, 9.30°EVikinghøgda — 78.17°N, 18.00°EMadygen — 40.05°N, 70.21°EMadygen — 40.04°N, 70.42°E

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Saurichthys has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 36 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 72 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Saurichthys and its relatives

Middle Triassic

Where Saurichthys and its relatives were recorded in the Middle Triassic.

Found in the same rock

937 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 187 sites for Saurichthys, 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

104 references

Each of the 239 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. 92 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 content2

Picture of Saurichthys

Credit
Jonathan Chen
Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0
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
Saurichthys justicias · ttup

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 itSaurichthyidae through timeFormations of the Middle TriassicThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Agassiz 1834