Scombridae

Scombridae is a family of marine ray-finned fish that consists of 51 extant species in 15 genera and two subfamilies, many of which are the most important and familiar commercial food fishes. All but one species are in the subfamily Scombrinae, which include mackerel, tuna and bonito; while the only exception is the butterfly kingfish, which is the sole member of subfamily Gasterochismatinae.

Scombridae

Marc Taquet · CC BY 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
ScombriformesPBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes

Time the record covers

At least 61 million years on record.

The record covers at least 61.66 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 66 Mya to 0 Mya.

Late Cretaceous — about 0 of 287 occurrencesPaleocene — about 4 of 287 occurrencesPaleoceneEocene — about 117 of 287 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 42 of 287 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 95 of 287 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 17 of 287 occurrencesPleistocene — about 8 of 287 occurrences67–65 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences65–63 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences63–61 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences61–58 Mya — about 1 occurrence58–56 Mya — about 1 occurrence56–54 Mya — about 19 occurrences54–52 Mya — about 20 occurrences52–49 Mya — about 20 occurrences49–47 Mya — about 16 occurrences47–45 Mya — about 9 occurrences45–43 Mya — about 8 occurrences43–40 Mya — about 8 occurrences40–38 Mya — about 8 occurrences38–36 Mya — about 5 occurrences36–34 Mya — about 5 occurrences34–31 Mya — about 11 occurrences31–29 Mya — about 11 occurrences29–27 Mya — about 10 occurrences27–25 Mya — about 5 occurrences25–22 Mya — about 7 occurrences22–20 Mya — about 7 occurrences20–18 Mya — about 9 occurrences18–16 Mya — about 11 occurrences16–13 Mya — about 9 occurrences13–11 Mya — about 10 occurrences11–9.0 Mya — about 11 occurrences9.0–6.7 Mya — about 16 occurrences6.7–4.5 Mya — about 25 occurrences4.5–2.2 Mya — about 13 occurrences2.2–0 Mya — about 10 occurrences61.66 Mya11.7 ka67 Mya0 Mya

287 occurrences of Scombridae 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

287 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

80 formations

London Clay — 51.51°N, 0.24°ELondon Clay — 51.40°N, 0.83°ELondon Clay — 51.54°N, 0.16°WLondon Clay — 50.78°N, 0.65°WTallahatta — 31.38°N, 86.67°WTallahatta — 31.31°N, 88.73°WTallahatta — 31.57°N, 88.34°WTallahatta — 31.79°N, 88.32°WTallahatta — 31.37°N, 86.52°WMonterey — 33.71°N, 118.31°WMonterey — 33.56°N, 117.71°WMonterey — 34.61°N, 120.44°WMonterey — 34.11°N, 118.42°WMonterey — 33.79°N, 117.81°WModelo — 34.13°N, 118.49°WModelo — 34.15°N, 118.47°WModelo — 34.13°N, 118.42°WNanjemoy — 38.28°N, 77.37°WNanjemoy — 38.07°N, 77.03°WSelsey — 50.80°N, 1.21°WYorktown — 35.36°N, 76.82°WRosarito Beach — 32.12°N, 116.80°WArgile des Flandres — 50.84°N, 4.25°EArgile des Flandres — 50.85°N, 4.37°EArgile des Flandres — 51.11°N, 3.71°EDanata — 38.61°N, 56.88°EPshekha Horizon — 44.74°N, 39.81°EGosport Sand — 31.50°N, 87.80°WGosport Sand — 31.50°N, 88.50°WGosport Sand — 31.59°N, 88.02°WBahía Inglesa — 27.13°S, 70.83°WBahía Inglesa — 27.16°S, 70.89°WCalvert — 37.93°N, 77.51°WCalvert — 38.16°N, 76.83°WAshley — 32.95°N, 80.18°WAshley — 32.97°N, 80.20°WElmore — 50.80°N, 1.20°WPisco — 15.58°S, 74.72°WPisco — 14.34°S, 75.91°WPungo River — 35.40°N, 76.80°WYazoo — 31.93°N, 91.94°WAdaev — 44.11°N, 52.81°EDabakhana Svita — 41.72°N, 44.83°EKhadum — 44.41°N, 40.21°EShorym Svita — 43.40°N, 51.79°ERaz-el-Ain — 35.71°N, 0.64°W

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The named rock units Scombridae has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 56 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 98 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Scombridae and its relatives

Eocene

Where Scombridae and its relatives were recorded in the Eocene.

Found in the same rock

3,727 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 174 sites for Scombridae, and this reads all 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

124 references

Each of the 287 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. 112 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 Scombridae

Credit
Marc Taquet
Licence
CC BY 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Scombridae was found in MorphoSource and Sketchfab.

Smithsonian Open Access was 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 itScombriformes through timeFormations of the EoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Rafinesque 1815