Xiphactinus

Searched as Xiphactinus mantelli. The Paleobiology Database treats Xiphactinus as the accepted name.

Xiphactinus is an extinct genus of large predatory marine ray-finned fish that lived during the late Albian to the late Maastrichtian. The genus grew up to 5–6 metres (16–20 ft) in length, and superficially resembled a gargantuan, fanged tarpon. It is a member of the extinct order Ichthyodectiformes, which represent close relatives of modern teleosts.

Xiphactinus

Jonathan Chen · 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
Sits inside
IchthyodectidaePBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Ichthyodectiformes
Life habit
nektonicPBDB, for Ichthyodectiformes
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Ichthyodectiformes
Length
5.1 mWikidata

Time the record covers

At most 11 million years on record.

Every occurrence read is dated to somewhere between 100.5 Mya and 89.8 Mya, and nothing in the dating separates them, so that window is what the record shows rather than a span.

Early Cretaceous — about 0 of 2 occurrencesLate Cretaceous — about 2 of 2 occurrencesLate Cretaceous101–100 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences100–100 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences100–99 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences99–99 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences99–99 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences99–98 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences98–98 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences98–97 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences97–97 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences97–97 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences97–96 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences96–96 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences96–96 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences96–95 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences95–95 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences95–94 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences94–94 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences94–94 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences94–93 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences93–93 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences93–92 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences92–92 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences92–92 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences92–91 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences91–91 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences91–90 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences90–90 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences90–90 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences101 Mya89.3 Mya

2 occurrences of Xiphactinus on record, most of them in the Late Cretaceous. 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

2 formations

Lower Chalk — 52.18°N, 0.17°EHolleywell, New Pit, Lewes — 51.30°N, 0.39°E

Loading coastlines…

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

Xiphactinus and its relatives

Late Cretaceous

Where Xiphactinus and its relatives were recorded in the Late Cretaceous.

Found in the same rock

593 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 58 sites for Xiphactinus, 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

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 Xiphactinus

Credit
Jonathan Chen
Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

Laser scan

Licence
In Copyright
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Xiphactinus sp. · YPM:VP:YPM VP 042230

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 itIchthyodectidae through timeFormations of the Late CretaceousThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Leidy 1870