Psettodes

The spiny turbots are a family, Psettodidae, of relatively large, primitive flatfish found in the tropical waters of the east Atlantic and Indo-Pacific. The family contains three species, all in the same genus, Psettodes. The common name comes from the presence of spines in the dorsal and anal fins, which may indicate an evolutionary relationship with the Perciformes. Spiny turbots are less asymmetrical than other flatfish, although the region around the eyes is twisted. They reach lengths of 55–80 cm (22–31 in).

Psettodes

Sir Francis Day · 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
PsettodidaePBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Pleuronectiformes
Life habit
nektobenthicPBDB, for Pleuronectiformes
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Pleuronectiformes

Time the record covers

At least 32 million years on record.

The record covers at least 48.07 Mya to 15.98 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 56 Mya to 13.82 Mya.

Paleocene — about 0 of 7 occurrencesEocene — about 5 of 7 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 0 of 7 occurrencesMiocene — about 2 of 7 occurrencesMiocene57–55 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences55–54 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences54–52 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences52–51 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences51–50 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences50–48 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences48–47 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences47–45 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences45–44 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences44–42 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences42–41 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences41–39 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences39–38 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences38–36 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences36–35 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences35–33 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences22–20 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences20–19 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences19–17 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences17–16 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences16–14 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences14–13 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences48.07 Mya15.98 Mya56.8 Mya13 Mya

7 occurrences of Psettodes on record, most of them in the Eocene. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group, and the chart stops with its fossils rather than at the present. 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

7 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

3 formations

Calcaire Grossier — 49.31°N, 2.25°EAalter — 50.79°N, 2.78°EAalter — 51.19°N, 3.31°EPiney Point — 37.61°N, 76.76°W

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The named rock units Psettodes has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 2 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Psettodes and its relatives

Eocene

Where Psettodes and its relatives were recorded in the Eocene.

Found in the same rock

205 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 6 sites for Psettodes, 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

5 references

Each of the 7 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 content1

Picture of Psettodes

Credit
Sir Francis Day
Licence
Public Domain
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Psettodes was found in MorphoSource and Sketchfab.

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 itPsettodidae through timeFormations of the EoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Bennett 1831