Scarus

Scarus is a genus of parrotfishes. With 52 currently recognised extant species, it is by far the largest parrotfish genus. The vast majority are found at reefs in the Indo-Pacific, but a small number of species are found in the warmer parts of the eastern Pacific and the western Atlantic, with a single species, Scarus hoefleri in the eastern Atlantic.

Scarus

Julien Bidet · 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
ScaridaePBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes

Time the record covers

At least 27 million years on record.

The record covers at least 27.3 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 33.9 Mya to 0 Mya.

Eocene — about 0 of 21 occurrencesOligocene — about 1 of 21 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 7 of 21 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 0 of 21 occurrencesPleistocene — about 1 of 21 occurrences35–33 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences33–32 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences32–31 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences31–30 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences30–29 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences29–28 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences28–27 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences21–20 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences20–18 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences18–17 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences17–16 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences16–15 Mya — about 1 occurrence15–14 Mya — about 2 occurrences14–13 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences13–12 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences12–10 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences10–9.2 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences9.2–8.1 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences8.1–6.9 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences6.9–5.8 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences5.8–4.6 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences1.2–0 Mya — about 13 occurrences27.3 Mya11.7 ka34.6 Mya0 Mya

21 occurrences of Scarus on record. 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

21 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

2 formations

Lagos-Portimão — 37.08°N, 8.28°WLagos-Portimão — 37.12°N, 8.54°WLagos-Portimão — 37.08°N, 8.67°WJaffna Limestone — 8.26°N, 79.84°E

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The named rock units Scarus has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 16 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Found in the same rock

358 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 16 sites for Scarus, 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

9 references

Each of the 21 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 content2

Picture of Scarus

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

CT scan

Licence
In Copyright
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Scarus niger · FMNH:Fishes:127266

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 itScaridae through timeThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Gronovius 1763