Squatina dumeril

The sand devil or Atlantic angel shark is a species of angelshark, family Squatinidae, native to the northwestern Atlantic Ocean. It occurs off the eastern United States, in the northern Gulf of Mexico, and possibly in parts of the Caribbean Sea. This bottom-dwelling shark is found in shallow inshore waters in summer and fall, and deep offshore waters in winter and spring. The sand devil's flattened body and enlarged pectoral and pelvic fins give it a ray-like appearance. There is a band of enlarged thorns running along the middle of its back. It is gray or brown in color, with scattered small dark spots. This species reaches 1.2–1.5 m (3.9–4.9 ft) in length.

Squatina dumeril

Donald Flescher, NOAA/NEFSC · 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
Atlantic angelsharkPBDB
Sits inside
SquatinaPBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Squatiniformes
Life habit
nektobenthicPBDB, for Squatiniformes
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Squatiniformes

Time the record covers

At most 8.1 million years on record.

Every occurrence read is dated to somewhere between 11.63 Mya and 3.6 Mya, and nothing in the dating separates them, so that window is what the record shows rather than a span.

Miocene — about 2 of 2 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 0 of 2 occurrencesPliocene12–12 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences12–11 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences11–11 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences11–11 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences11–10 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences10–10 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences10–9.7 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences9.7–9.4 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences9.4–9.1 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences9.1–8.8 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences8.8–8.5 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences8.5–8.2 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences8.2–7.9 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences7.9–7.6 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences7.6–7.3 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences7.3–7.0 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences7.0–6.7 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences6.7–6.4 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences6.4–6.1 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences6.1–5.8 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences5.8–5.5 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences5.5–5.2 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences5.2–4.9 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences4.9–4.6 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences4.6–4.3 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences4.3–4.0 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences4.0–3.7 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences3.7–3.4 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences12.1 Mya3.1 Mya

2 occurrences of Squatina dumeril 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

2 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

1 formation

Cubagua — 10.60°N, 64.24°W

Loading coastlines…

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

Squatina dumeril and its relatives

Miocene

Where Squatina dumeril and its relatives were recorded in the Miocene.

Found in the same rock

6 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 2 sites for Squatina dumeril, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too.

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

1 reference

Each of the 2 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. Each entry links to doi.org. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content3

Picture of Squatina dumeril

Credit
Donald Flescher, NOAA/NEFSC
Licence
Public Domain
Commercial use
the licence allows it

CT scan

Licence
In Copyright
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Squatina dumeril · TCWC:Ichthyology:13234.01

3D model

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

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 itSquatina through timeFormations of the MioceneThe world it lived on

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