Istiophorus

The sailfish is one or two species of marine fish in the genus Istiophorus, which belong to the family Istiophoridae (marlins). They are predominantly blue to gray in color and have a characteristically large dorsal fin known as the sail, which often stretches the entire length of the back. Another notable characteristic is the elongated rostrum (bill) consistent with that of other marlins and the swordfish, which together constitute what are known as billfish in sport fishing circles. Sailfish live in colder pelagic waters of all Earth's oceans, and hold the record for the highest speed of any marine animal.

Istiophorus

Kawahara Keiga · 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
IstiophoridaePBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes

Time the record covers

At least 53 million years on record.

The record covers at least 56 Mya to 2.58 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 59.24 Mya to 774 ka.

Paleocene — about 1 of 11 occurrencesEocene — about 4 of 11 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 0 of 11 occurrencesMiocene — about 2 of 11 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 3 of 11 occurrencesPleistocene — about 1 of 11 occurrences60–58 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences58–56 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences56–54 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences54–52 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences52–50 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences50–48 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences48–46 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences46–44 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences44–42 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences42–40 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences40–38 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences38–36 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences36–34 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences34–32 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences14–12 Mya — about 1 occurrence12–10 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences10–8.1 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences8.1–6.0 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences6.0–4.0 Mya — about 2 occurrences4.0–2.0 Mya — about 1 occurrence2.0–0 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences56 Mya2.58 Mya60 Mya0 Mya

11 occurrences of Istiophorus on record, most of them in the Eocene. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group, and the chart stops with its fossils rather than at the present. 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

11 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

9 formations

Selsey — 50.80°N, 1.21°WVincentown — 39.97°N, 74.68°WYorktown — 35.36°N, 76.82°WSables à Gryphaea virleti — 43.61°N, 3.88°EEastover — 37.30°N, 77.19°WShark River — 40.20°N, 74.17°WCalvert — 38.16°N, 76.83°WWaccamaw — 33.10°N, 80.31°WSan Diego — 32.74°N, 117.17°W

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The named rock units Istiophorus 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.

Istiophorus and its relatives

Eocene

Where Istiophorus and its relatives were recorded in the Eocene.

Found in the same rock

804 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 11 sites for Istiophorus, 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

10 references

Each of the 11 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 Istiophorus

Credit
Kawahara Keiga
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
Istiophorus albicans · MCZ:Ich:84234

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 itIstiophoridae through timeFormations of the EoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Lacépède 1802