Sillago

Sillago is a genus of fish in the family Sillaginidae and the only non-monotypic genus in the family. Distinguishing the species can be difficult, with many similar in appearance and colour, forcing the use of swim bladder morphology as a definitive feature. All species are benthic in nature and generally coastal fish, living in shallow, protected waters although there are exceptions. Minor fisheries exist around various species of Sillago, making them of minor importance in most of their range. This genus has the widest distribution of any smelt-whiting genus, spanning much of the Indo-Pacific. The genus ranges from the east coast of Africa to Japan in the east and Southern Australia in the south, with most species concentrated around South East Asia, the Indonesian Archipelago and Australia. Many species have overlapping distribution, often making positive identification hard.

Sillago

kamakura · CC BY-SA 3.0 · 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
SillaginidaePBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes

Time the record covers

At least 38 million years on record.

The record covers at least 39.1 Mya to 129 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 42.6 Mya to 0 Mya.

Eocene — about 3 of 44 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 8 of 44 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 19 of 44 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 2 of 44 occurrencesPleistocene — about 12 of 44 occurrences43–42 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences42–41 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences41–39 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences39–38 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences38–36 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences36–35 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences35–33 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences33–32 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences32–30 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences30–29 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences29–28 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences28–26 Mya — about 2 occurrences26–25 Mya — about 2 occurrences25–23 Mya — about 2 occurrences23–22 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences22–20 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences20–19 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences19–17 Mya — about 3 occurrences17–16 Mya — about 4 occurrences16–14 Mya — about 2 occurrences14–13 Mya — about 2 occurrences13–12 Mya — about 1 occurrence12–10 Mya — about 1 occurrence10–8.7 Mya — about 1 occurrence8.7–7.2 Mya — about 1 occurrence7.2–5.8 Mya — about 2 occurrences5.8–4.3 Mya — about 2 occurrences4.3–2.9 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences2.9–1.4 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences1.4–0 Mya — about 12 occurrences39.1 Mya129 ka43.5 Mya0 Mya

44 occurrences of Sillago on record, most of them in the Miocene. 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

44 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

15 formations

Port Campbell Limestone — 37.72°S, 141.93°EPort Campbell Limestone — 38.62°S, 142.98°EJan Juc — 38.33°S, 144.30°ESouthburn Sand — 44.42°S, 170.89°EYokosuka — 35.26°N, 139.72°EMiri — 4.87°N, 114.82°EMiri — 4.87°N, 114.86°EBlack Rock Sandstone — 37.99°S, 145.04°EAlzey — 49.83°N, 7.72°EEger — 47.90°N, 20.40°ERifle Butts — 45.03°S, 170.02°EPomahaka — 46.01°S, 169.22°ELiuchungchi — 23.44°N, 120.59°EMiyata — 35.19°N, 39.65°ETapu — 24.96°N, 121.38°ESeria — 4.81°N, 114.67°ETokyo — 35.75°N, 139.73°E

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The named rock units Sillago has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 23 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Sillago and its relatives

Miocene

Where Sillago and its relatives were recorded in the Miocene.

Found in the same rock

740 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 41 sites for Sillago, 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

15 references

Each of the 44 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. 3 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 Sillago

Credit
kamakura
Licence
CC BY-SA 3.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC0 Public Domain
Commercial use
the licence allows it

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 itSillaginidae through timeFormations of the MioceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Cuvier 1817