Chimaeriformes

Chimaeras are cartilaginous fish in the order Chimaeriformes, known informally as ghost sharks, rat fish, spookfish, or rabbit fish; the last two names are also applied, respectively, to the ray-finned fish groups of Opisthoproctidae and Siganidae.

Chimaeriformes

Linda Snook / MBNMS · 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
Also called
chimaeraPBDB
Sits inside
HolocephalomorphaPBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB
Life habit
nektobenthicPBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB

Time the record covers

At least 323 million years on record.

The record covers at least 323.6 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 326.9 Mya to 0 Mya.

Carboniferous — about 3 of 369 occurrencesCarboniferousPermian — about 0 of 369 occurrencesEarly Triassic — about 0 of 369 occurrencesMiddle Triassic — about 11 of 369 occurrencesLate Triassic — about 19 of 369 occurrencesLate TriassicEarly Jurassic — about 34 of 369 occurrencesMiddle Jurassic — about 11 of 369 occurrencesLate Jurassic — about 11 of 369 occurrencesEarly Cretaceous — about 19 of 369 occurrencesEarly CretaceousLate Cretaceous — about 150 of 369 occurrencesLate CretaceousPaleocene — about 34 of 369 occurrencesEocene — about 40 of 369 occurrencesOligocene — about 8 of 369 occurrencesMiocene — about 15 of 369 occurrencesPliocene — about 9 of 369 occurrencesPleistocene — about 4 of 369 occurrences333–322 Mya — about 2 occurrences322–311 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences311–300 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences245–233 Mya — about 14 occurrences233–222 Mya — about 3 occurrences211–200 Mya — about 18 occurrences200–189 Mya — about 24 occurrences189–178 Mya — about 5 occurrences178–167 Mya — about 6 occurrences167–156 Mya — about 7 occurrences156–144 Mya — about 8 occurrences144–133 Mya — about 2 occurrences133–122 Mya — about 1 occurrence122–111 Mya — about 4 occurrences111–100 Mya — about 14 occurrences100–89 Mya — about 21 occurrences89–78 Mya — about 45 occurrences78–67 Mya — about 77 occurrences67–56 Mya — about 40 occurrences56–44 Mya — about 15 occurrences44–33 Mya — about 25 occurrences33–22 Mya — about 8 occurrences22–11 Mya — about 6 occurrences11–0 Mya — about 23 occurrences323.6 Mya11.7 ka333 Mya0 Mya

369 occurrences of Chimaeriformes on record, most of them in the Late Cretaceous. 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

369 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

122 formations

Hornerstown — 39.76°N, 75.13°WHornerstown — 40.10°N, 73.00°WHornerstown — 40.12°N, 74.55°WHornerstown — 39.76°N, 75.16°WHornerstown — 39.97°N, 74.71°WHell Creek — 46.90°N, 101.50°WHell Creek — 46.41°N, 100.87°WHell Creek — 46.50°N, 100.61°WHell Creek — 46.51°N, 100.65°WHell Creek — 46.61°N, 100.64°WHell Creek — 46.59°N, 100.76°WHell Creek — 46.50°N, 100.39°WLa Meseta — 64.26°S, 56.68°WLa Meseta — 64.22°S, 56.64°WLa Meseta — 64.24°S, 56.66°WFalang — 25.16°N, 104.79°EMasuk — 38.07°N, 110.93°WMasuk — 38.06°N, 110.97°WFox Hills — 46.42°N, 100.74°WFox Hills — 46.24°N, 100.53°WFox Hills — 46.11°N, 100.43°WFox Hills — 46.45°N, 99.55°WFox Hills — 45.78°N, 101.11°WFox Hills — 46.27°N, 100.51°WFox Hills — 45.21°N, 101.66°WFox Hills — 46.47°N, 99.58°WFox Hills — 46.39°N, 99.57°WRybushka — 51.24°N, 44.99°ERybushka — 51.35°N, 45.04°ERybushka — 51.23°N, 45.10°ESelsey — 50.80°N, 1.21°WBlack Rock Sandstone — 37.99°S, 145.04°EBlack Rock Sandstone — 37.98°S, 145.05°EKössen — 46.64°N, 9.64°EKössen — 46.62°N, 9.68°EKössen — 46.60°N, 9.82°EKössen — 46.77°N, 9.68°EKössen — 46.75°N, 9.61°EKössen — 46.65°N, 10.14°EDinosaur Park — 50.81°N, 111.32°WDinosaur Park — 49.12°N, 110.47°WDinosaur Park — 50.78°N, 111.36°WClayton — 37.18°N, 89.07°WClayton — 33.50°N, 88.79°WClayton — 32.15°N, 87.29°WClayton — 34.49°N, 89.00°WToolebuc — 22.92°S, 140.58°EToolebuc — 23.12°S, 140.58°EToolebuc — 23.24°S, 140.37°EToolebuc — 20.63°S, 143.04°EToolebuc — 23.27°S, 140.51°EMelovatka — 50.88°N, 44.74°EHorcón — 32.70°S, 71.46°WJudith River — 48.03°N, 109.01°WJudith River — 48.01°N, 108.91°WJudith River — 47.74°N, 108.96°WNavesink — 39.95°N, 74.79°WNavesink — 40.35°N, 74.17°WNavesink — 40.38°N, 74.21°WZhuganpo — 25.89°N, 105.46°EGrès d'Orval — 49.61°N, 5.56°ELondon Clay — 51.40°N, 0.83°ELondon Clay — 51.07°N, 1.74°WTangahoe — 39.58°S, 174.28°EMount Laurel — 40.26°N, 74.27°WMount Laurel — 40.38°N, 74.21°WNew Egypt — 39.73°N, 75.16°WNew Egypt — 39.80°N, 75.09°WSables de Bracheux — 49.58°N, 2.65°ESables de Bracheux — 49.53°N, 2.75°E

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Chimaeriformes has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 98 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 78 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Chimaeriformes and its relatives

Late Cretaceous

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

Found in the same rock

2,629 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 291 sites for Chimaeriformes, and this reads 240 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

168 references

Each of the 369 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. 156 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 Chimaeriformes

Credit
Linda Snook / MBNMS
Licence
Public Domain
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Chimaeriformes was found in MorphoSource and Sketchfab.

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 itHolocephalomorpha through timeFormations of the Late CretaceousThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Obruchev 1953