Elopomorpha

The superorder Elopomorpha contains a variety of types of fishes that range from typical silvery-colored species, such as the tarpons and ladyfishes of the Elopiformes and the bonefishes of the Albuliformes, to the long and slender, smooth-bodied eels of the Anguilliformes. The one characteristic uniting this group of fishes is they all have leptocephalus larvae, which are unique to the Elopomorpha. No other fishes have this type of larvae.

Elopomorpha

GerardM · 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
TeleosteiPBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes

Time the record covers

At least 149 million years on record.

The record covers at least 149.2 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 152.21 Mya to 0 Mya.

Late Jurassic — about 11 of 1364 occurrencesEarly Cretaceous — about 43 of 1364 occurrencesEarly CretaceousLate Cretaceous — about 410 of 1364 occurrencesLate CretaceousPaleocene — about 40 of 1364 occurrencesEocene — about 399 of 1364 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 102 of 1364 occurrencesMiocene — about 239 of 1364 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 42 of 1364 occurrencesPleistocene — about 69 of 1364 occurrences155–150 Mya — about 4 occurrences150–145 Mya — about 7 occurrences145–140 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences140–135 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences135–129 Mya — about 1 occurrence129–124 Mya — about 3 occurrences124–119 Mya — about 7 occurrences119–114 Mya — about 15 occurrences114–109 Mya — about 9 occurrences109–104 Mya — about 5 occurrences104–98 Mya — about 24 occurrences98–93 Mya — about 48 occurrences93–88 Mya — about 19 occurrences88–83 Mya — about 43 occurrences83–78 Mya — about 92 occurrences78–72 Mya — about 92 occurrences72–67 Mya — about 75 occurrences67–62 Mya — about 28 occurrences62–57 Mya — about 28 occurrences57–52 Mya — about 69 occurrences52–47 Mya — about 101 occurrences47–41 Mya — about 106 occurrences41–36 Mya — about 100 occurrences36–31 Mya — about 39 occurrences31–26 Mya — about 46 occurrences26–21 Mya — about 64 occurrences21–16 Mya — about 112 occurrences16–10 Mya — about 59 occurrences10–5.2 Mya — about 49 occurrences5.2–0 Mya — about 117 occurrences149.2 Mya11.7 ka155 Mya0 Mya

1,364 occurrences of Elopomorpha 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

1,364 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

250 formations

Dinosaur Park — 50.81°N, 111.32°WDinosaur Park — 49.12°N, 110.47°WDinosaur Park — 50.74°N, 111.49°WDinosaur Park — 50.79°N, 111.62°WDinosaur Park — 50.75°N, 111.46°WDinosaur Park — 50.75°N, 111.40°WDinosaur Park — 50.68°N, 108.09°WOldman — 50.75°N, 111.51°WOldman — 49.10°N, 110.94°WOldman — 49.08°N, 110.84°WOldman — 49.08°N, 110.68°WOldman — 49.16°N, 110.72°WOldman — 50.83°N, 111.32°WOldman — 49.15°N, 110.40°WLondon Clay — 51.51°N, 0.24°ELondon Clay — 51.54°N, 0.16°WLondon Clay — 51.40°N, 0.83°ELondon Clay — 50.78°N, 0.68°WHell Creek — 47.80°N, 106.10°WHell Creek — 47.52°N, 107.05°WHell Creek — 46.90°N, 101.50°WHell Creek — 45.66°N, 105.08°WHell Creek — 47.09°N, 104.60°WHell Creek — 45.50°N, 103.10°WHell Creek — 45.64°N, 103.49°WHell Creek — 47.52°N, 106.40°WHell Creek — 47.60°N, 106.92°WHell Creek — 47.52°N, 107.18°WHell Creek — 47.27°N, 107.13°WHell Creek — 47.60°N, 106.28°WSelsey — 50.80°N, 1.21°WCook Mountain — 30.64°N, 96.51°WCook Mountain — 31.33°N, 95.52°WCook Mountain — 32.03°N, 88.70°WCook Mountain — 30.61°N, 96.57°WRomualdo — 7.52°S, 39.57°WRomualdo — 7.51°S, 39.55°WRomualdo — 7.47°S, 39.76°WRomualdo — 7.43°S, 39.82°WRomualdo — 7.22°S, 39.27°WMoodys Branch — 32.32°N, 90.16°WMoodys Branch — 32.23°N, 92.15°WMoodys Branch — 34.81°N, 88.21°WMoodys Branch — 32.18°N, 90.15°WMoodys Branch — 32.90°N, 90.19°WMoodys Branch — 31.90°N, 88.69°WMoodys Branch — 31.89°N, 88.39°WTallahatta — 31.38°N, 86.67°WTallahatta — 31.31°N, 88.73°WTallahatta — 31.57°N, 88.34°WTallahatta — 31.79°N, 88.32°WTallahatta — 31.37°N, 86.52°WNanjemoy — 38.28°N, 77.37°WNanjemoy — 37.75°N, 77.33°WNanjemoy — 38.72°N, 76.93°WNanjemoy — 38.42°N, 77.00°WAhlen — 51.83°N, 7.83°EAhlen — 51.86°N, 7.74°EMount Harris — 44.20°S, 170.71°EMount Harris — 44.48°S, 170.90°EMount Harris — 45.21°S, 170.88°EMount Harris — 45.14°S, 170.94°EMount Harris — 45.13°S, 170.96°EMount Harris — 44.30°S, 170.99°EMount Harris — 44.49°S, 171.01°EMount Harris — 44.82°S, 170.88°EMount Harris — 45.03°S, 171.02°EMiretrain Marl — 43.56°N, 1.11°WFox Hills — 46.05°N, 103.88°WFox Hills — 46.47°N, 99.58°WFox Hills — 46.42°N, 100.74°WFox Hills — 46.26°N, 100.55°WFox Hills — 46.11°N, 103.90°WFox Hills — 44.52°N, 102.39°WStone City — 30.53°N, 96.69°WStone City — 30.63°N, 96.54°WStone City — 30.67°N, 96.56°WLance — 43.12°N, 104.64°WLance — 43.18°N, 104.53°WLance — 43.13°N, 104.49°WLance — 43.15°N, 104.57°WElmore — 50.80°N, 1.20°WYazoo — 31.66°N, 92.90°WYazoo — 31.93°N, 91.94°WBashi — 32.35°N, 88.68°WBashi — 31.93°N, 87.87°WWaihao Greensand — 44.80°S, 170.98°EWaihao Greensand — 44.40°S, 171.04°ENavidad — 33.89°S, 71.83°WNavidad — 33.95°S, 71.87°WForemost — 50.07°N, 111.14°WForemost — 49.13°N, 110.87°WSannine Limestone — 34.13°N, 35.75°EGatun — 9.36°N, 79.84°W

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The named rock units Elopomorpha has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 226 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 427 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Elopomorpha and its relatives

Late Cretaceous

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

Found in the same rock

4,372 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 693 sites for Elopomorpha, and this reads 240 of them. Of that, one read hit the database's own return limit, so every count below is a floor rather than a total. 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

350 references

Each of the 1,364 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. 338 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 Elopomorpha

Credit
GerardM
Licence
CC BY-SA 3.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan was found. Smithsonian Open Access, MorphoSource and Sketchfab were all searched.

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 itTeleostei through timeFormations of the Late CretaceousThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. (Greenwood et al. 1966)