Ophidiidae

The cusk-eel family, Ophidiidae, is a group of marine bony fishes in the Ophidiiformes order. The scientific name is from the Greek ophis meaning "snake", and refers to their eel-like appearance. True eels diverged from other ray-finned fish during the Jurassic, while cusk-eels are part of the Percomorpha clade, along with tuna, perch, seahorses, and others.

Ophidiidae

NOAA/ MBARI · 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
OphidioideiPBDB
Diet
carnivore, parasitePBDB, for Ophidiiformes
Life habit
nektobenthicPBDB, for Ophidiiformes
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Ophidiiformes

Time the record covers

At least 65 million years on record.

The record covers at least 66 Mya to 129 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 72.2 Mya to 0 Mya.

Late Cretaceous — about 1 of 320 occurrencesLate CretaceousPaleocene — about 8 of 320 occurrencesPaleoceneEocene — about 149 of 320 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 36 of 320 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 73 of 320 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 20 of 320 occurrencesPleistocene — about 33 of 320 occurrences74–71 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences71–69 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences69–66 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences66–64 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences64–61 Mya — about 1 occurrence61–59 Mya — about 5 occurrences59–56 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences56–54 Mya — about 6 occurrences54–52 Mya — about 7 occurrences52–49 Mya — about 11 occurrences49–47 Mya — about 20 occurrences47–44 Mya — about 26 occurrences44–42 Mya — about 28 occurrences42–39 Mya — about 24 occurrences39–37 Mya — about 13 occurrences37–34 Mya — about 13 occurrences34–32 Mya — about 7 occurrences32–29 Mya — about 6 occurrences29–27 Mya — about 7 occurrences27–25 Mya — about 13 occurrences25–22 Mya — about 8 occurrences22–20 Mya — about 7 occurrences20–17 Mya — about 13 occurrences17–15 Mya — about 11 occurrences15–12 Mya — about 7 occurrences12–9.8 Mya — about 12 occurrences9.8–7.4 Mya — about 13 occurrences7.4–4.9 Mya — about 11 occurrences4.9–2.5 Mya — about 18 occurrences2.5–0 Mya — about 33 occurrences66 Mya129 ka74 Mya0 Mya

320 occurrences of Ophidiidae 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

320 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

65 formations

Miretrain Marl — 43.56°N, 1.11°WPalos Verdes Sand — 33.66°N, 117.90°WPalos Verdes Sand — 33.99°N, 118.45°WPalos Verdes Sand — 33.60°N, 117.88°WPalos Verdes Sand — 33.76°N, 118.28°WPalos Verdes Sand — 33.75°N, 118.29°WWaihao Greensand — 44.80°S, 170.98°EWaihao Greensand — 44.40°S, 171.04°ENavidad — 33.91°S, 71.84°WNavidad — 33.95°S, 71.87°WGatun — 9.35°N, 79.80°WGatun — 9.36°N, 79.84°WSelsey — 50.80°N, 1.21°WDonzacq Marl — 43.75°N, 0.84°WNanjemoy — 38.42°N, 77.00°WNanjemoy — 37.75°N, 77.33°WBarton Beds — 50.74°N, 1.69°WBoom Clay — 51.09°N, 4.40°EBoom Clay — 51.19°N, 4.32°EStone City — 30.67°N, 96.56°WLondon Clay — 50.83°N, 0.78°WLondon Clay — 51.51°N, 0.24°ELondon Clay — 51.40°N, 0.83°EElmore — 50.80°N, 1.20°WBarton Clay — 50.74°N, 1.69°WBowden — 17.88°N, 76.28°WLindos Bay — 36.26°N, 28.17°ELindos Bay — 36.36°N, 28.21°ECalcaire Grossier — 49.31°N, 2.25°ELacui — 41.75°S, 73.84°WLacui — 42.69°S, 74.12°WOnzole — 0.87°N, 79.89°WBahía Inglesa — 27.17°S, 70.87°WChiting — 23.02°N, 120.28°EAalter — 50.79°N, 2.78°EJan Juc — 38.33°S, 144.30°EYazoo — 31.93°N, 91.94°W

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The named rock units Ophidiidae has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 41 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 118 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Ophidiidae and its relatives

Eocene

Where Ophidiidae and its relatives were recorded in the Eocene.

Found in the same rock

3,527 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 175 sites for Ophidiidae, and this reads all 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

81 references

Each of the 320 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. 69 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 Ophidiidae

Credit
NOAA/ MBARI
Licence
Public Domain
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Ophidiidae 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 itOphidioidei through timeFormations of the EoceneThe world it lived on

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