Scyliorhinidae

Scyliorhinidae is a family of sharks, one of a few families whose members share the common name catsharks, belonging to the order Carcharhiniformes, the ground sharks. Although they are generally known as catsharks, some species can also be called dogfish due to previous naming. However, a dogfish may generally be distinguished from a catshark as catsharks lay eggs while dogfish have live young, as well as the fact that dogfish lack an anal fin. Like most bottom feeders, catsharks feed on benthic invertebrates and smaller fish. They are not harmful to humans. The family is paraphyletic, containing several distinct lineages that do not form a monophyletic group.

Scyliorhinidae

NOAA Ocean Explorer · 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
Also called
cat sharkPBDB
Sits inside
ScyliorhinoideiPBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Carcharhiniformes
Life habit
nektonicPBDB, for Carcharhiniformes
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Carcharhiniformes

Time the record covers

At least 165 million years on record.

The record covers at least 165.3 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 168.2 Mya to 0 Mya.

Middle Jurassic — about 2 of 731 occurrencesLate Jurassic — about 6 of 731 occurrencesLate JurassicEarly Cretaceous — about 62 of 731 occurrencesEarly CretaceousLate Cretaceous — about 186 of 731 occurrencesLate CretaceousPaleocene — about 106 of 731 occurrencesEocene — about 201 of 731 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 20 of 731 occurrencesMiocene — about 117 of 731 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 28 of 731 occurrencesPleistocene — about 1 of 731 occurrences172–166 Mya — about 2 occurrences166–160 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences160–154 Mya — about 2 occurrences154–149 Mya — about 3 occurrences149–143 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences137–132 Mya — about 5 occurrences132–126 Mya — about 2 occurrences126–120 Mya — about 11 occurrences120–114 Mya — about 4 occurrences114–109 Mya — about 8 occurrences109–103 Mya — about 21 occurrences103–97 Mya — about 26 occurrences97–92 Mya — about 21 occurrences92–86 Mya — about 11 occurrences86–80 Mya — about 47 occurrences80–74 Mya — about 26 occurrences74–69 Mya — about 43 occurrences69–63 Mya — about 60 occurrences63–57 Mya — about 55 occurrences57–51 Mya — about 60 occurrences51–46 Mya — about 59 occurrences46–40 Mya — about 55 occurrences40–34 Mya — about 39 occurrences34–29 Mya — about 11 occurrences29–23 Mya — about 13 occurrences23–17 Mya — about 29 occurrences17–11 Mya — about 66 occurrences11–5.7 Mya — about 20 occurrences5.7–0 Mya — about 32 occurrences165.3 Mya11.7 ka172 Mya0 Mya

731 occurrences of Scyliorhinidae 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

731 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

157 formations

Hunstanton — 54.15°N, 0.17°WHunstanton — 53.68°N, 0.50°WCouche II — 32.87°N, 6.57°WCouche II — 32.65°N, 6.68°WCouche II — 32.85°N, 6.63°WCouche II — 32.81°N, 6.83°WNewhaven Chalk — 51.45°N, 1.36°WNewhaven Chalk — 50.88°N, 0.81°WNewhaven Chalk — 51.53°N, 0.70°WMarnes de Donzacq — 43.75°N, 0.84°WLondon Clay — 51.40°N, 0.83°ELondon Clay — 51.51°N, 0.24°ELondon Clay — 51.38°N, 0.24°WLondon Clay — 50.78°N, 0.65°WLondon Clay — 51.64°N, 0.78°EDongen — 52.73°N, 6.30°EDongen — 53.16°N, 6.22°EDongen — 52.12°N, 6.72°EMatam — 15.32°N, 13.03°WMatam — 15.31°N, 13.09°WSelsey — 50.80°N, 1.21°WGehannam — 29.33°N, 30.08°EGehannam — 29.30°N, 30.05°EKortrijk Clay — 50.80°N, 3.22°EElmore — 50.80°N, 1.20°WRødvig — 55.32°N, 12.44°ESpeeton Clay — 54.15°N, 0.17°WMarnes de Miretrain — 43.69°N, 1.13°WEsbarrondadoiro — 38.17°N, 8.17°WEsbarrondadoiro — 38.11°N, 8.36°WEsbarrondadoiro — 39.30°N, 8.12°WCulver Chalk — 50.85°N, 1.15°WArenas de Huelva — 37.35°N, 6.61°WArenas de Huelva — 37.33°N, 6.68°WArenas de Huelva — 37.27°N, 6.84°WArenas de Huelva — 37.22°N, 7.10°WLagos-Portimão — 37.08°N, 8.28°WLagos-Portimão — 37.12°N, 8.54°WLagos-Portimão — 37.08°N, 8.67°WHibernian Greensand — 54.95°N, 5.91°WTavda — 55.34°N, 65.35°ETavda — 56.70°N, 63.15°EBerchem — 51.20°N, 4.44°EMishash — 30.87°N, 34.94°EMishash — 30.83°N, 34.92°EBirket Qarun — 29.28°N, 30.04°EDry Branch — 33.62°N, 81.68°WDry Branch — 33.50°N, 84.74°W

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The named rock units Scyliorhinidae has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 133 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 248 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Scyliorhinidae and its relatives

Eocene

Where Scyliorhinidae and its relatives were recorded in the Eocene.

Found in the same rock

2,939 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 412 sites for Scyliorhinidae, and this reads 240 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

201 references

Each of the 731 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. 189 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 Scyliorhinidae

Credit
NOAA Ocean Explorer
Licence
Public Domain
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Scyliorhinidae 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 itScyliorhinoidei through timeFormations of the EoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Gill 1862