Ctenoptychius

Ctenoptychius is an extinct genus of cartilaginous fish in the order Petalodontiformes. While Ctenoptychius was historically thought to encompass a large number of species with serrated tooth crowns, it is now considered to include only the type species, C. apicalis. This species lived during the Late Carboniferous period, and its fossils are known from the United Kingdom and potentially the United States. C. apicalis is known primarily from teeth, which have a flattened shape and serrated edges, although poorly-preserved specimens preserving the head, pectoral fins and scales of the body are also known. Based on this, it is believed that Ctenoptychius had a flattened, ray-like body.

Ctenoptychius

Louis Agassiz · 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
Sits inside
BelantseidaePBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Petalodontiformes
Life habit
nektonicPBDB, for Petalodontiformes
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Petalodontiformes

Time the record covers

At least 33 million years on record.

The record covers at least 323.4 Mya to 290.1 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 358.86 Mya to 274.4 Mya.

Devonian — about 0 of 14 occurrencesCarboniferous — about 12 of 14 occurrencesCarboniferousPermian — about 2 of 14 occurrencesPermian361–358 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences358–355 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences355–352 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences352–349 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences349–346 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences346–343 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences343–340 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences340–337 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences337–334 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences334–331 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences331–328 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences328–325 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences325–322 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences322–320 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences320–317 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences317–314 Mya — about 1 occurrence314–311 Mya — about 2 occurrences311–308 Mya — about 2 occurrences308–305 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences305–302 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences302–299 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences299–296 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences290–287 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences287–284 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences284–281 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences281–279 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences279–276 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences276–273 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences323.4 Mya290.1 Mya361 Mya273 Mya

14 occurrences of Ctenoptychius on record, most of them in the Carboniferous. 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

14 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

Lueders — 33.75°N, 99.15°WLueders — 33.75°N, 99.12°WPoint Edward — 46.17°N, 60.27°W

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The named rock units Ctenoptychius has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 11 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Ctenoptychius and its relatives

Carboniferous

Where Ctenoptychius and its relatives were recorded in the Carboniferous.

Found in the same rock

102 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 9 sites for Ctenoptychius, 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 14 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 Ctenoptychius

Credit
Louis Agassiz
Licence
Public Domain
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Ctenoptychius 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 itBelantseidae through timeFormations of the CarboniferousThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Agassiz 1838