Polyipnus

Polyipnus is a genus of oceanic ray-finned fish in the family Sternoptychidae. This is the largest genus of the marine hatchetfishes subfamily Sternoptychinae and indeed of the entire Sternoptychidae. It is not quite as apomorphic as their relatives; it may be that the genus is actually a paraphyletic assemblage of less advanced Sternoptychinae and would need to be split.

Polyipnus

Thomas Gloerfelt-Tarp · CC BY 3.0 · 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
SternoptychidaePBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Sternoptychidae
Life habit
nektonic, depth=deepPBDB, for Sternoptychidae
Motility
fast-movingPBDB, for Sternoptychidae
Vision
well-developedPBDB, for Sternoptychidae
Environment
oceanic,marinePBDB, for Sternoptychidae

Time the record covers

At least 27 million years on record.

The record covers at least 27.3 Mya to 129 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 33.9 Mya to 11.7 ka.

Eocene — about 0 of 37 occurrencesOligocene — about 5 of 37 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 21 of 37 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 6 of 37 occurrencesPleistocene — about 5 of 37 occurrences35–33 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences33–32 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences32–31 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences31–30 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences30–29 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences29–28 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences28–27 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences27–25 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences25–24 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences24–23 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences23–22 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences22–21 Mya — about 2 occurrences21–20 Mya — about 2 occurrences20–18 Mya — about 2 occurrences18–17 Mya — about 2 occurrences17–16 Mya — about 2 occurrences16–15 Mya — about 1 occurrence15–14 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences14–13 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences13–12 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences12–10 Mya — about 2 occurrences10–9.2 Mya — about 2 occurrences9.2–8.1 Mya — about 2 occurrences8.1–6.9 Mya — about 1 occurrence6.9–5.8 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences5.8–4.6 Mya — about 3 occurrences4.6–3.5 Mya — about 3 occurrences3.5–2.3 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences2.3–1.2 Mya — about 2 occurrences1.2–0 Mya — about 3 occurrences27.3 Mya129 ka34.6 Mya0 Mya

37 occurrences of Polyipnus 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

37 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

8 formations

Gutingkeng — 23.04°N, 120.43°EGutingkeng — 22.84°N, 120.41°EGutingkeng — 22.85°N, 120.43°ENavidad — 33.91°S, 71.84°WLindos Bay — 36.09°N, 28.01°ELindos Bay — 36.36°N, 28.21°EWaioha Shellbeds — 34.50°S, 172.96°EBowden — 17.88°N, 76.28°WWaititi — 35.54°S, 173.37°EChagres Sandstone — 9.28°N, 80.05°WYokosuka — 35.26°N, 139.72°E

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The named rock units Polyipnus has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 21 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Polyipnus and its relatives

Miocene

Where Polyipnus and its relatives were recorded in the Miocene.

Found in the same rock

705 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 34 sites for Polyipnus, 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

14 references

Each of the 37 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. 2 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 content2

Picture of Polyipnus

Credit
Thomas Gloerfelt-Tarp
Licence
CC BY 3.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

CT scan

Licence
In Copyright
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Polyipnus indicus · SIO:Marine Vertebrates:89-71

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 itSternoptychidae through timeFormations of the MioceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Günther 1887