Tetraodontiformes

Tetraodontiformes, also known as the Plectognathi, is an order of ray-finned fishes which includes the pufferfishes and related taxa. This order has been classified as a suborder of the order Perciformes, although recent studies have found that it, as the Tetraodontoidei, is a sister taxon to the anglerfish order Lophiiformes, called Lophiodei, and have placed both taxa within the Acanthuriformes. The Tetraodontiformes are represented by 10 extant families and at around 430 species overall. The majority of the species within this order are marine but a few may be found in freshwater. They are found throughout the world.

Tetraodontiformes

Keiichi Matsuura · CC BY 3.0 · 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
Sits inside
EupercariaPBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB
Life habit
nektonicPBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB

Time the record covers

At least 93 million years on record.

The record covers at least 93.9 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 100.5 Mya to 0 Mya.

Early Cretaceous — about 0 of 298 occurrencesLate Cretaceous — about 10 of 298 occurrencesLate CretaceousPaleocene — about 4 of 298 occurrencesPaleoceneEocene — about 102 of 298 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 11 of 298 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 95 of 298 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 33 of 298 occurrencesPleistocene — about 26 of 298 occurrences103–99 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences99–96 Mya — about 1 occurrence96–92 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences92–89 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences89–85 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences85–82 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences82–79 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences79–75 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences75–72 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences72–68 Mya — about 3 occurrences68–65 Mya — about 2 occurrences65–62 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences62–58 Mya — about 2 occurrences58–55 Mya — about 12 occurrences55–51 Mya — about 26 occurrences51–48 Mya — about 25 occurrences48–44 Mya — about 5 occurrences44–41 Mya — about 5 occurrences41–38 Mya — about 16 occurrences38–34 Mya — about 13 occurrences34–31 Mya — about 5 occurrences31–27 Mya — about 5 occurrences27–24 Mya — about 2 occurrences24–21 Mya — about 7 occurrences21–17 Mya — about 13 occurrences17–14 Mya — about 22 occurrences14–10 Mya — about 23 occurrences10–6.8 Mya — about 17 occurrences6.8–3.4 Mya — about 38 occurrences3.4–0 Mya — about 52 occurrences93.9 Mya11.7 ka103 Mya0 Mya

298 occurrences of Tetraodontiformes on record, most of them in the Eocene. 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

298 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

97 formations

Gosport Sand — 31.53°N, 87.57°WGosport Sand — 31.50°N, 87.80°WGosport Sand — 31.50°N, 88.50°WGosport Sand — 31.76°N, 88.10°WKoobi 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°ECalvert — 37.93°N, 77.51°WCalvert — 38.60°N, 76.51°WCalvert — 37.77°N, 77.37°WCalvert — 38.16°N, 76.83°WBermont — 27.70°N, 82.50°WYazoo — 31.93°N, 91.94°WYazoo — 31.71°N, 87.96°WYazoo — 31.63°N, 88.31°WYazoo — 31.69°N, 88.30°WNyabusosi — 1.00°N, 30.50°ENkondo — 1.50°N, 31.00°ETamiami — 26.72°N, 81.67°WTamiami — 27.34°N, 82.51°WYorktown — 35.36°N, 76.82°WCluj Limestone — 46.75°N, 23.48°ECluj Limestone — 47.08°N, 22.90°ECluj Limestone — 42.25°N, 23.32°ETallahatta — 31.38°N, 86.67°WTallahatta — 31.31°N, 88.73°WTallahatta — 31.79°N, 88.32°WTallahatta — 31.37°N, 86.52°WRosarito Beach — 32.12°N, 116.80°WPisco — 15.58°S, 74.72°WPisco — 15.44°S, 74.87°WNanjemoy — 38.28°N, 77.37°WNanjemoy — 38.07°N, 77.03°WPirabas — 1.18°S, 47.22°WPirabas — 0.48°S, 48.17°WPirabas — 0.63°S, 47.54°WWaccamaw — 33.10°N, 80.31°WCaujarao — 11.50°N, 69.52°WArgile des Flandres — 50.83°N, 4.34°EArgile des Flandres — 50.85°N, 4.37°ELagos-Portimão — 37.08°N, 8.28°WLagos-Portimão — 37.12°N, 8.54°WTupelo Bay — 33.24°N, 80.44°WSubathu — 30.98°N, 76.98°ENachukui — 2.90°N, 36.05°ESelsey — 50.80°N, 1.21°WLoxton — 34.15°S, 139.91°E

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The named rock units Tetraodontiformes has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 73 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 122 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Tetraodontiformes and its relatives

Eocene

Where Tetraodontiformes and its relatives were recorded in the Eocene.

Found in the same rock

3,716 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 196 sites for Tetraodontiformes, and this reads all of them. Of that, one read hit the database's own return limit, so every count below is a floor rather than a total. 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

147 references

Each of the 298 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. 135 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 Tetraodontiformes

Credit
Keiichi Matsuura
Licence
CC BY 3.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Tetraodontiformes 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 itEupercaria through timeFormations of the EoceneThe world it lived on

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