Somniosus

Somniosus is a widely distributed genus of deepwater dogfish sharks in the family Somniosidae. Several members of the genus are believed to attain lengths up to 7 m (23 ft), thus ranking among the largest of sharks.

Somniosus

Super Bomba from bklyn / syd · CC BY-SA 2.0 · 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
Also called
sleeper sharkPBDB
Sits inside
SomniosidaePBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Squaliformes
Life habit
nektonicPBDB, for Squaliformes
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Squaliformes

Time the record covers

At least 35 million years on record.

The record covers at least 41.03 Mya to 5.333 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 48.07 Mya to 3.6 Mya.

Eocene — about 2 of 7 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 2 of 7 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 2 of 7 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 1 of 7 occurrences49–47 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences47–46 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences46–44 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences44–43 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences43–41 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences41–40 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences38–37 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences37–35 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences35–34 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences34–32 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences32–30 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences30–29 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences29–27 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences27–26 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences26–24 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences24–23 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences21–20 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences20–18 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences18–17 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences17–15 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences15–14 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences5.8–4.3 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences4.3–2.7 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences41.03 Mya5.333 Mya49 Mya2.7 Mya

7 occurrences of Somniosus on record, most of them in the Eocene. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group, and the chart stops with its fossils rather than at the present. 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

7 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

6 formations

Pysht — 48.16°N, 123.90°WMiretrain Marl — 43.57°N, 1.11°WPeresheek Mountain — 58.58°N, 163.60°EKattendijk — 51.26°N, 4.27°EYokoo — 36.42°N, 138.30°EMakino — 34.75°N, 136.27°E

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Somniosus has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed.

Somniosus and its relatives

Eocene

Where Somniosus and its relatives were recorded in the Eocene.

Found in the same rock

105 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 7 sites for Somniosus, 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

7 references

Each of the 7 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 Somniosus

Credit
Super Bomba from bklyn / syd
Licence
CC BY-SA 2.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

CT scan

Licence
In Copyright
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Somniosus longus · MCZ:Ich:39650

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 itSomniosidae through timeFormations of the EoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Le Sueur 1818