Sphyrna media

The scoophead is a little-known species of hammerhead shark, part of the family Sphyrnidae. It inhabits the tropical waters of the western Atlantic Ocean, from Panama to southern Brazil, and in the eastern Pacific Ocean from the Gulf of California to Ecuador, and probably northern Peru, as well. It is found in shallow, inshore habitats.

Sphyrna media

D Ross Robertson · 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
scoopheadPBDB
Sits inside
SphyrnaPBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Carcharhiniformes
Life habit
nektonicPBDB, for Carcharhiniformes
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Carcharhiniformes

Time the record covers

At least 21 million years on record.

The record covers at least 23.04 Mya to 1.8 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 27.3 Mya to 774 ka.

Oligocene — about 1 of 8 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 4 of 8 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 2 of 8 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 1 of 8 occurrencesPleistocene28–27 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences27–26 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences26–25 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences25–24 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences24–23 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences23–22 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences22–21 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences21–20 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences20–20 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences20–19 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences19–18 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences18–17 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences17–16 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences16–15 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences15–14 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences14–13 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences12–11 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences11–10 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences10–9.4 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences9.4–8.5 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences8.5–7.6 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences7.6–6.7 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences6.7–5.8 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences5.8–4.8 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences4.8–3.9 Mya — about 1 occurrence3.9–3.0 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences2.1–1.2 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences1.2–243 ka Mya — about 0.4 occurrences23.04 Mya1.8 Mya27.8 Mya243 ka

8 occurrences of Sphyrna media on record, most of them in the Miocene. 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

8 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

Pisco — 14.34°S, 75.91°WYorktown — 35.36°N, 76.82°WPungo River — 35.40°N, 76.80°WChandler Bridge — 33.03°N, 80.27°WTirabuzón — 27.37°N, 112.29°WOnzole — 0.97°N, 79.61°W

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Sphyrna media has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 1 occurrence has no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Sphyrna media and its relatives

Miocene

Where Sphyrna media and its relatives were recorded in the Miocene.

Found in the same rock

680 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 7 sites for Sphyrna media, 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

6 references

Each of the 8 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 Sphyrna media

Credit
D Ross Robertson
Licence
Public Domain
Commercial use
the licence allows it

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC Attribution
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record

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 itSphyrna through timeFormations of the MioceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Springer 1940