Tetraodontidae

Tetraodontidae is a family of marine and freshwater fish in the order Tetraodontiformes. The family includes many familiar species variously called pufferfishes, puffers, balloonfishes, blowfishes, blowers, blowies, bubblefishes, globefishes, swellfishes, toadfishes, toadies, botetes, toadle, honey toads, sugar toads, and sea squabs. They are morphologically similar to the closely related porcupinefish, which have large external spines. The family name comes from Ancient Greek τετρα- (tetra-), meaning "four", and ὀδούς (odoús), meaning "tooth", referring to the four teeth of the type genus Tetraodon.

Tetraodontidae

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration · 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
Sits inside
TetraodontoideiPBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Tetraodontiformes
Life habit
nektonicPBDB, for Tetraodontiformes
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Tetraodontiformes

Time the record covers

At least 48 million years on record.

The record covers at least 48.07 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 56 Mya to 0 Mya.

Paleocene — about 0 of 55 occurrencesEocene — about 6 of 55 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 1 of 55 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 27 of 55 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 9 of 55 occurrencesPleistocene — about 10 of 55 occurrences57–55 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences55–53 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences53–51 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences51–50 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences50–48 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences48–46 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences46–44 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences44–42 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences42–40 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences40–38 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences38–36 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences29–27 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences27–25 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences25–23 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences23–21 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences21–19 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences19–17 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences17–15 Mya — about 2 occurrences15–13 Mya — about 4 occurrences13–11 Mya — about 4 occurrences11–9.5 Mya — about 3 occurrences9.5–7.6 Mya — about 3 occurrences7.6–5.7 Mya — about 7 occurrences5.7–3.8 Mya — about 7 occurrences3.8–1.9 Mya — about 8 occurrences1.9–0 Mya — about 8 occurrences48.07 Mya11.7 ka57 Mya0 Mya

55 occurrences of Tetraodontidae 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

55 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

19 formations

Koobi Fora — 3.90°N, 36.24°EKoobi Fora — 4.07°N, 36.37°EKoobi Fora — 4.22°N, 36.43°EKoobi Fora — 3.87°N, 36.37°EKoobi Fora — 3.89°N, 36.29°ENyabusosi — 1.00°N, 30.50°ENkondo — 1.50°N, 31.00°ENachukui — 2.90°N, 36.05°ELagos-Portimão — 37.08°N, 8.28°WLagos-Portimão — 37.12°N, 8.54°WYorktown — 35.36°N, 76.82°WStudienka — 48.20°N, 17.98°ETripoli — 35.24°N, 0.56°WLuanda — 8.76°S, 13.30°ETamiami — 27.34°N, 82.51°WUscari — 9.57°N, 82.57°WEastover — 38.16°N, 76.83°WWaccamaw — 33.10°N, 80.31°WMission Valley — 32.92°N, 117.09°WTerravecchia — 37.30°N, 14.22°ETripoli — 37.37°N, 14.20°ECatahoula — 31.66°N, 88.66°WPietra Leccese — 40.33°N, 18.19°ESaloum — 14.96°N, 17.05°W

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The named rock units Tetraodontidae has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 22 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Tetraodontidae and its relatives

Miocene

Where Tetraodontidae and its relatives were recorded in the Miocene.

Found in the same rock

1,535 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 50 sites for Tetraodontidae, 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

40 references

Each of the 55 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. 28 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 Tetraodontidae

Credit
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Licence
Public Domain
Commercial use
the licence allows it

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Credit
Faezeh.
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 itTetraodontoidei through timeFormations of the MioceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0.