Heptranchias

Heptranchias is a genus of sharks in the family Hexanchidae.

Heptranchias

SEFSC Pascagoula Laboratory; Collection of Brandi Noble, NOAA/NMFS/SEFSC. · 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
sevengill sharkPBDB
Sits inside
HexanchidaePBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Hexanchiformes
Life habit
nektonicPBDB, for Hexanchiformes
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Hexanchiformes

Time the record covers

At least 61 million years on record.

The record covers at least 61.66 Mya to 129 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 72.2 Mya to 11.7 ka.

Late Cretaceous — about 1 of 46 occurrencesLate CretaceousPaleocene — about 4 of 46 occurrencesPaleoceneEocene — about 21 of 46 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 10 of 46 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 9 of 46 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 0 of 46 occurrencesPleistocene — about 1 of 46 occurrences74–71 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences71–69 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences69–66 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences66–64 Mya — about 2 occurrences64–61 Mya — about 2 occurrences61–59 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences59–56 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences56–54 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences54–52 Mya — about 1 occurrence52–49 Mya — about 1 occurrence49–47 Mya — about 2 occurrences47–44 Mya — about 2 occurrences44–42 Mya — about 2 occurrences42–39 Mya — about 4 occurrences39–37 Mya — about 4 occurrences37–34 Mya — about 3 occurrences34–32 Mya — about 3 occurrences32–29 Mya — about 3 occurrences29–27 Mya — about 3 occurrences27–25 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences25–22 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences22–20 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences20–17 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences17–15 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences15–12 Mya — about 3 occurrences12–9.8 Mya — about 2 occurrences9.8–7.4 Mya — about 1 occurrence7.4–4.9 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences4.9–2.5 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences2.5–0 Mya — about 1 occurrence61.66 Mya129 ka74 Mya0 Mya

46 occurrences of Heptranchias on record, most of them in the Eocene. 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

46 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

25 formations

Menilite — 49.63°N, 22.57°EMenilite — 49.73°N, 22.05°EMarnes de Donzacq — 43.75°N, 0.84°WMarnes de Miretrain — 43.69°N, 1.13°WKeasey — 46.00°N, 123.26°WLillebælt Clay — 55.60°N, 9.80°EWadi Esh-Shallala — 31.57°N, 37.12°EKøbenhavn Limestone — 55.57°N, 12.93°EWaipara Greensand — 43.05°S, 172.62°EShark River — 40.18°N, 74.01°WNestucca — 45.05°N, 124.00°WLincoln Creek — 47.26°N, 123.50°WUscari — 9.57°N, 82.57°WChagres Sandstone — 9.28°N, 80.04°WUitpa — 12.03°N, 71.43°WRío Banano — 9.92°N, 83.55°WPoronai — 43.05°N, 141.82°EKuma — 45.10°N, 34.63°EEl Mene — 11.04°N, 68.49°WFaxe — 55.26°N, 12.13°EHornerstown — 39.76°N, 75.13°WMenilitic — 49.64°N, 18.73°EMenilite — 49.20°N, 17.20°EBlanche Point — 35.25°S, 138.46°ELa Meseta — 64.25°S, 56.68°W

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The named rock units Heptranchias has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. One further formation holds fewer occurrences and is not listed. 10 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Heptranchias and its relatives

Eocene

Where Heptranchias and its relatives were recorded in the Eocene.

Found in the same rock

451 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 45 sites for Heptranchias, 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

29 references

Each of the 46 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. 17 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 content2

Picture of Heptranchias

Credit
SEFSC Pascagoula Laboratory; Collection of Brandi Noble, NOAA/NMFS/SEFSC.
Licence
Public Domain
Commercial use
the licence allows it

CT scan

Licence
In Copyright
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Heptranchias perlo · TCWC:Ichthyology:8534.01

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 itHexanchidae through timeFormations of the EoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. (Rafinesque 1810)