Orthacanthus

Orthacanthus is an extinct genus of fresh-water xenacanthiform cartilaginous fish, named by Louis Agassiz in 1843, ranging from the Upper Carboniferous into the Lower Permian. Orthacanthus had a nektobenthic life habitat, with a carnivorous diet. Multiple authors have also discovered evidence of cannibalism in the diet of Orthacanthus and of "filial cannibalism" where adult Orthacanthus preyed upon juvenile Orthacanthus. Synonyms of the genus Orthacanthus are Dittodus Owen, 1867, Didymodus Cope, 1883, Diplodus Agassiz, 1843, Chilodus Giebel, 1848.

Orthacanthus

Kimberly G. Beck, Rodrigo Soler-Gijón, Jesse R. Carlucci, Ray E. Willis · 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
OrthacanthidaePBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Chondrichthyes
Life habit
nektonicPBDB, for Chondrichthyes
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Chondrichthyes
Length
3 mWikidata

Time the record covers

At least 247 million years on record.

The record covers at least 399.5 Mya to 152.21 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 410.62 Mya to 149.2 Mya.

Devonian — about 2 of 53 occurrencesDevonianCarboniferous — about 22 of 53 occurrencesCarboniferousPermian — about 26 of 53 occurrencesPermianEarly Triassic — about 0 of 53 occurrencesMiddle Triassic — about 1 of 53 occurrencesLate Triassic — about 1 of 53 occurrencesLate TriassicEarly Jurassic — about 0 of 53 occurrencesMiddle Jurassic — about 0 of 53 occurrencesLate Jurassic — about 1 of 53 occurrences416–407 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences407–398 Mya — about 1 occurrence398–389 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences325–316 Mya — about 5 occurrences316–307 Mya — about 10 occurrences307–298 Mya — about 8 occurrences298–289 Mya — about 10 occurrences289–280 Mya — about 7 occurrences280–271 Mya — about 3 occurrences271–262 Mya — about 2 occurrences262–253 Mya — about 2 occurrences253–244 Mya — about 1 occurrence244–235 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences235–226 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences226–216 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences216–207 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences207–198 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences153–144 Mya — about 1 occurrence399.5 Mya152.21 Mya416 Mya144 Mya

53 occurrences of Orthacanthus on record, most of them in the Permian. 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

53 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

18 formations

Garber Sandstone — 34.53°N, 98.89°WGarber Sandstone — 34.58°N, 98.85°WBlack Prince Limestone — 31.77°N, 109.58°WWashington — 39.77°N, 80.00°WWild Cow — 34.95°N, 106.30°WWreford Limestone — 37.96°N, 96.55°WWreford Limestone — 39.05°N, 96.75°WCampbellton — 48.00°N, 66.70°WWellington — 36.30°N, 97.30°WArcher City — 33.34°N, 98.39°WNocona — 33.68°N, 98.70°WGarber — 36.77°N, 97.77°WKanawha — 38.00°N, 81.00°WMatfield Shale — 39.07°N, 96.53°WSpeiser Shale — 37.25°N, 96.55°WWolica — 50.75°N, 20.48°EOread — 38.00°N, 96.19°WHalgaito — 37.29°N, 109.86°WMattoon — 38.44°N, 87.86°WPennine Lower Coal Measures — 53.09°N, 3.07°W

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The named rock units Orthacanthus has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 17 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Orthacanthus and its relatives

Permian

Where Orthacanthus and its relatives were recorded in the Permian.

Found in the same rock

296 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 39 sites for Orthacanthus, 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

25 references

Each of the 53 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. 13 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 content3

Picture of Orthacanthus

Credit
Kimberly G. Beck, Rodrigo Soler-Gijón, Jesse R. Carlucci, Ray E. Willis
Licence
CC BY 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

CT scan

Licence
In Copyright
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Opsodoras orthacanthus · CUMV:Fish:2755

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC Attribution
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record

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 itOrthacanthidae through timeFormations of the PermianThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Agassiz 1843