Lophius piscatorius

Lophius piscatorius, commonly known as the angler, toadfish, sea frog, fishing frog, frogfish, or sea devil, is a species of Lophius in the family Lophiidae. It occurs in coastal and shelf waters of the northeast Atlantic, ranging from the Barents Sea south to the Strait of Gibraltar, and is also present in the Mediterranean and Black Sea. In parts of its range, including the Irish Sea, it supports an important commercial fishery.

Lophius piscatorius

Libby Keatley · CC BY 4.0 · 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
LophiusPBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Lophiiformes
Life habit
nektonicPBDB, for Lophiiformes
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Lophiiformes

Time the record covers

At least 1.7 million years on record.

The record covers at least 5.333 Mya to 3.6 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 7.246 Mya to 2.58 Mya.

Miocene — about 2 of 3 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 1 of 3 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 0 of 3 occurrences7.4–7.2 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences7.2–7.0 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences7.0–6.8 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences6.8–6.6 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences6.6–6.4 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences6.4–6.2 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences6.2–6.0 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences6.0–5.9 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences5.9–5.7 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences5.7–5.5 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences5.5–5.3 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences3.8–3.6 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences3.6–3.4 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences3.4–3.2 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences3.2–3.0 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences3.0–2.8 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences2.8–2.6 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences2.6–2.5 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences5.333 Mya3.6 Mya7.7 Mya2.1 Mya

3 occurrences of Lophius piscatorius on record. 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

3 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 the same rock

85 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 3 sites for Lophius piscatorius, 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

2 references

Each of the 3 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 Lophius piscatorius

Credit
Libby Keatley
Licence
CC BY 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

Photogrammetry

Licence
not stated by the source
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Lophius piscatorius · UF:Fish:118531

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 itLophius through timeThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Linnaeus 1758