Syngnathus

Syngnathus is a genus of fish in the family Syngnathidae found in marine, brackish and sometimes fresh waters of the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific Ocean. Fossils of these species are found from the Oligocene to the Pleistocene. They are known from various localities of Greece, Italy, Germany and United States. The name comes from Ancient Greek σύν (sún), meaning "together", and γνάθος (gnáthos), meaning "jaw", referring to the fused jaw that the species have in common.

Syngnathus

Hans Hillewaert · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 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
pipefishPBDB
Sits inside
SyngnathidaePBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes

Time the record covers

At least 24 million years on record.

The record covers at least 27.3 Mya to 2.58 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 33.9 Mya to 1.8 Mya.

Eocene — about 0 of 52 occurrencesOligocene — about 6 of 52 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 33 of 52 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 12 of 52 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 1 of 52 occurrences35–33 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences33–32 Mya — about 1 occurrence32–31 Mya — about 1 occurrence31–30 Mya — about 1 occurrence30–29 Mya — about 1 occurrence29–28 Mya — about 1 occurrence28–27 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences27–26 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences26–25 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences25–23 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences23–22 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences22–21 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences21–20 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences20–19 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences19–18 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences18–17 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences17–16 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences16–15 Mya — about 1 occurrence15–13 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences13–12 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences12–11 Mya — about 1 occurrence11–10 Mya — about 2 occurrences10–8.9 Mya — about 2 occurrences8.9–7.8 Mya — about 2 occurrences7.8–6.7 Mya — about 6 occurrences6.7–5.6 Mya — about 10 occurrences5.6–4.5 Mya — about 6 occurrences4.5–3.4 Mya — about 5 occurrences3.4–2.3 Mya — about 4 occurrences2.3–1.2 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences27.3 Mya2.58 Mya34.5 Mya1.2 Mya

52 occurrences of Syngnathus 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

52 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

10 formations

Monterey — 33.71°N, 118.31°WMonterey — 34.08°N, 118.17°WMonterey — 34.49°N, 120.23°WPuente — 33.84°N, 117.82°WPuente — 34.11°N, 117.81°WModelo — 34.15°N, 118.47°WModelo — 34.13°N, 118.42°WMakrilia — 35.04°N, 25.76°EFinikia — 35.30°N, 25.27°EPakhna — 34.76°N, 32.92°EZuramakent horizon — 43.66°N, 43.89°ERaz-el-Ain — 35.71°N, 0.64°WCoraline Limestone — 35.84°N, 14.42°EZdanice-Hustopece — 49.13°N, 16.86°E

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Syngnathus has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 37 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Syngnathus and its relatives

Miocene

Where Syngnathus and its relatives were recorded in the Miocene.

Found in the same rock

710 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 45 sites for Syngnathus, 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

31 references

Each of the 52 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. 19 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 Syngnathus

Credit
Hans Hillewaert
Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Syngnathus was found in Sketchfab.

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 itSyngnathidae through timeFormations of the MioceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Linnaeus 1758