Argentina sphyraena

Argentina sphyraena, the lesser silver smelt or lesser argentine, is a species of fish belonging to the family Argentinidae. A. sphyraena was first described in 1758 by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus. A pelagic fish found in the northeastern Atlantic, from Norway to Western Sahara, and in the Mediterranean Sea between 50 and 700 m depth. The species generally grows up to 20 cm total length, but 35.5 cm total length is the maximum recorded size. A. sphyraena feeds mostly on invertebrates, including polychaetes, molluscs, and crustaceans. One of the most notable characteristics of the species is that it smells of cucumbers.

Argentina sphyraena

Bauchot, M.-L. · CC BY-SA 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
ArgentinaPBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes

Time the record covers

At least 15 million years on record.

The record covers at least 15.98 Mya to 774 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 33.9 Mya to 129 ka.

Eocene — about 0 of 10 occurrencesOligocene — about 1 of 10 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 5 of 10 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 2 of 10 occurrencesPleistocene — about 2 of 10 occurrences35–33 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences33–32 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences32–31 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences31–30 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences30–29 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences29–28 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences28–27 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences27–25 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences25–24 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences24–23 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences23–22 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences22–21 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences21–20 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences20–18 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences18–17 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences17–16 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences16–15 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences15–14 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences14–13 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences13–12 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences12–10 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences10–9.2 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences9.2–8.1 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences8.1–6.9 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences6.9–5.8 Mya — about 1 occurrence5.8–4.6 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences4.6–3.5 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences3.5–2.3 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences2.3–1.2 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences1.2–0 Mya — about 1 occurrence15.98 Mya774 ka34.6 Mya0 Mya

10 occurrences of Argentina sphyraena 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

10 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

Lindos Bay — 36.09°N, 28.01°E

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Argentina sphyraena has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 9 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Argentina sphyraena and its relatives

Miocene

Where Argentina sphyraena and its relatives were recorded in the Miocene.

Found in the same rock

293 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 10 sites for Argentina sphyraena, 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

7 references

Each of the 10 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. 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 Argentina sphyraena

Credit
Bauchot, M.-L.
Licence
CC BY-SA 3.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Argentina sphyraena 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 itArgentina through timeFormations of the MioceneThe world it lived on

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