Myctophidae

Lanternfish are small mesopelagic fish of the large family Myctophidae. One of two families in the order Myctophiformes, the Myctophidae are represented by 246 species in 33 genera, and are found in oceans worldwide. They are named after their conspicuous use of bioluminescence. Their sister family, the Neoscopelidae, are much fewer in number but superficially very similar; at least one neoscopelid shares the common name "lanternfish": the large-scaled lantern fish, Neoscopelus macrolepidotus.

Myctophidae

Emma Kissling · 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
lanternfishPBDB
Sits inside
MyctophiformesPBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Myctophiformes
Life habit
nektonicPBDB, for Myctophiformes
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Myctophiformes

Time the record covers

At least 89 million years on record.

The record covers at least 89.8 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 100.5 Mya to 0 Mya.

Early Cretaceous — about 0 of 1841 occurrencesLate Cretaceous — about 6 of 1841 occurrencesLate CretaceousPaleocene — about 6 of 1841 occurrencesPaleoceneEocene — about 49 of 1841 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 79 of 1841 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 1062 of 1841 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 344 of 1841 occurrencesPleistocene — about 291 of 1841 occurrences103–99 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences99–96 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences96–92 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences92–89 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences89–85 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences85–82 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences82–79 Mya — about 1 occurrence79–75 Mya — about 1 occurrence75–72 Mya — about 1 occurrence72–68 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences68–65 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences65–62 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences62–58 Mya — about 4 occurrences58–55 Mya — about 2 occurrences55–51 Mya — about 4 occurrences51–48 Mya — about 6 occurrences48–44 Mya — about 14 occurrences44–41 Mya — about 13 occurrences41–38 Mya — about 3 occurrences38–34 Mya — about 7 occurrences34–31 Mya — about 22 occurrences31–27 Mya — about 24 occurrences27–24 Mya — about 27 occurrences24–21 Mya — about 58 occurrences21–17 Mya — about 146 occurrences17–14 Mya — about 117 occurrences14–10 Mya — about 163 occurrences10–6.8 Mya — about 330 occurrences6.8–3.4 Mya — about 458 occurrences3.4–0 Mya — about 434 occurrences89.8 Mya11.7 ka103 Mya0 Mya

1,841 occurrences of Myctophidae on record, most of them in the Miocene. 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

1,841 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

103 formations

Lindos Bay — 36.09°N, 28.01°ELindos Bay — 36.26°N, 28.17°ELindos Bay — 36.36°N, 28.21°EChagres Sandstone — 9.28°N, 80.04°WChagres Sandstone — 9.18°N, 80.24°WChagres Sandstone — 9.16°N, 80.33°WCubagua — 11.89°N, 70.04°WCubagua — 10.83°N, 64.20°WCubagua — 10.59°N, 64.24°WGutingkeng — 23.04°N, 120.43°EGutingkeng — 22.84°N, 120.41°EGutingkeng — 22.85°N, 120.43°EMount Harris — 44.48°S, 170.90°EMount Harris — 45.21°S, 170.88°EMount Harris — 45.15°S, 170.93°EMount Harris — 45.13°S, 170.96°EMount Harris — 44.49°S, 171.01°EMount Harris — 44.82°S, 170.88°EMount Harris — 45.03°S, 171.02°EMount Harris — 44.83°S, 170.97°EShinzato — 26.14°N, 127.74°EShinzato — 26.36°N, 127.98°EShinzato — 26.38°N, 127.86°EShinzato — 26.32°N, 127.96°ENavidad — 33.90°S, 71.84°WNavidad — 33.94°S, 71.85°WBells Creek Mudstone — 41.34°S, 175.46°ESant’Agata Fossili — 45.07°N, 7.94°ESant’Agata Fossili — 45.07°N, 7.97°ENobori — 33.37°N, 134.06°Efacies à Congeria — 45.05°N, 7.93°EEscudo de Veraguas — 9.09°N, 81.55°WEscudo de Veraguas — 9.10°N, 81.57°WCayo Agua — 9.18°N, 82.04°WCayo Agua — 9.15°N, 82.02°WBowden — 17.88°N, 76.28°WMiretrain Marl — 43.56°N, 1.11°WPico — 33.59°N, 117.85°WPico — 34.05°N, 118.24°WMiyata — 35.19°N, 39.65°ERifle Butts — 45.03°S, 170.02°ERifle Butts — 45.12°S, 170.93°ERifle Butts — 45.08°S, 170.95°ETimms Point Silt — 33.73°N, 118.28°WLomita Marl — 33.75°N, 118.30°WWaioha Shellbeds — 34.50°S, 172.96°EHijikata — 34.65°N, 138.04°EHijikata — 34.79°N, 137.97°ERifle Butts Siltstone — 45.14°S, 170.93°EPakaurangi — 36.24°S, 174.28°E

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The named rock units Myctophidae has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 79 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 1,033 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Myctophidae and its relatives

Miocene

Where Myctophidae and its relatives were recorded in the Miocene.

Found in the same rock

2,870 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 398 sites for Myctophidae, and this reads 240 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

137 references

Each of the 1,841 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. 125 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 Myctophidae

Credit
Emma Kissling
Licence
Public Domain
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Myctophidae 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 itMyctophiformes through timeFormations of the MioceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Gill 1893