Porichthys

A midshipman fish is any species of toadfish belonging to the genus Porichthys. Historically, there have been two common names. Porichthys refers to the well developed pores on the fish, and this led to the common name "Porous Catfish". The other common name, "Midshipman" is based on the pattern of button-like luminous spots (photophores) which resemble the buttons on the uniforms of young naval officers known as midshipmen.

Porichthys

U.S. Geological Survey Department of the Interior/USGS U.S. Geological Survey/photo by Jane Doe · 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
BatrachoididaePBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Batrachoidiformes
Life habit
nektobenthicPBDB, for Batrachoidiformes
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Batrachoidiformes

Time the record covers

At least 7.2 million years on record.

The record covers at least 7.246 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 11.63 Mya to 0 Mya.

Miocene — about 2 of 25 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 6 of 25 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 16 of 25 occurrencesPleistoceneHolocene — about 1 of 25 occurrences12–11 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences11–11 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences11–11 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences11–10 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences10–9.7 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences9.7–9.3 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences9.3–8.9 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences8.9–8.5 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences8.5–8.1 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences8.1–7.7 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences7.7–7.3 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences7.3–6.9 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences5.7–5.3 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences5.3–4.9 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences4.9–4.4 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences4.4–4.0 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences4.0–3.6 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences3.6–3.2 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences3.2–2.8 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences2.8–2.4 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences809 ka–404 ka Mya — about 2 occurrences404 ka–0 Mya — about 15 occurrences7.246 Mya11.7 ka12.1 Mya0 Mya

25 occurrences of Porichthys on record, most of them in the Pleistocene. 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

25 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

6 formations

Palos Verdes Sand — 33.76°N, 118.29°WPalos Verdes Sand — 33.66°N, 117.90°WPalos Verdes Sand — 33.99°N, 118.45°WPalos Verdes Sand — 33.75°N, 118.29°WPalos Verdes Sand — 33.64°N, 117.88°WOnzole — 0.87°N, 79.89°WGatun — 9.36°N, 79.84°WBowden — 17.88°N, 76.28°WSan Pedro — 33.75°N, 118.29°WTimms Point Silt — 33.73°N, 118.28°W

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Porichthys has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 5 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Porichthys and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Porichthys and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

627 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 14 sites for Porichthys, 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

12 references

Each of the 25 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 content3

Picture of Porichthys

Credit
U.S. Geological Survey Department of the Interior/USGS U.S. Geological Survey/photo by Jane Doe
Licence
Public Domain
Commercial use
the licence allows it

CT scan

Licence
not stated by the source
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Porichthys bathoiketes · UF:Fish:228539

3D model

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

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 itBatrachoididae through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Girard 1854