Cephaloscyllium

Cephaloscyllium is a genus of catsharks, and part of the family Scyliorhinidae, commonly known as swellsharks because of their ability to inflate their bodies with water or air as a defense against predators. These sluggish, bottom-dwelling sharks are found widely in the tropical and temperate coastal waters of the Indian and Pacific Oceans. They have stocky, spindle-shaped bodies and short, broad, and flattened heads. The mouth is capacious, containing many small teeth and lacking furrows at the corners. The two dorsal fins are placed far back on the body, with the first much larger than the second. Different species have various color patterns of saddles, blotches, reticulations, and/or spots. The largest members of the genus can grow over 1 m (3.3 ft) in length. Swellsharks prey on a variety of fishes and invertebrates, and are oviparous, with females producing egg capsules in pairs. They are harmless and have been deemed of having no commercial value.

Cephaloscyllium

Nick Long · CC BY-SA 2.0 · 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
ScyliorhinidaePBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Carcharhiniformes
Life habit
nektonicPBDB, for Carcharhiniformes
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Carcharhiniformes

Time the record covers

At least 20 million years on record.

The record covers at least 20.45 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 23.04 Mya to 0 Mya.

Oligocene — about 0 of 4 occurrencesMiocene — about 3 of 4 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 0 of 4 occurrencesPleistocene — about 0 of 4 occurrences24–23 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences23–22 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences22–21 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences21–20 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences20–20 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences20–19 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences19–18 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences18–17 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences17–16 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences16–16 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences16–15 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences15–14 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences14–13 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences785 ka–0 Mya — about 1 occurrence20.45 Mya11.7 ka23.5 Mya0 Mya

4 occurrences of Cephaloscyllium 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

4 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

3 formations

Jewett — 35.49°N, 118.85°WTemblor — 35.47°N, 118.91°WMakino — 34.75°N, 136.27°E

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The named rock units Cephaloscyllium has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 1 occurrence has no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Cephaloscyllium and its relatives

Miocene

Where Cephaloscyllium and its relatives were recorded in the Miocene.

Found in the same rock

172 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 4 sites for Cephaloscyllium, 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

4 references

Each of the 4 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 content2

Picture of Cephaloscyllium

Credit
Nick Long
Licence
CC BY-SA 2.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

CT scan

Licence
In Copyright
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Cephaloscyllium sarawakensis · CSIRO:ANFC:H6230-01

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 itScyliorhinidae through timeFormations of the MioceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Gill 1861