Pseudocarcharias kamoharai

The crocodile shark is a species of mackerel shark and the only extant member of the family Pseudocarchariidae. A specialized inhabitant of the mesopelagic zone, the crocodile shark can be found worldwide in tropical waters from the surface to a depth of 590 m (1,940 ft). It performs a diel vertical migration, staying below a depth of 200 m (660 ft) during the day and ascending into shallower water at night to feed. Typically measuring only 1 m (3.3 ft) in length, the crocodile shark is the smallest living mackerel shark. It can be distinguished by its elongated cigar-shaped body, extremely large eyes, and relatively small fins.

Pseudocarcharias kamoharai

NOAA Observer Program · 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
Also called
crocodile sharkPBDB
Sits inside
PseudocarchariasPBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Lamniformes
Life habit
nektonicPBDB, for Lamniformes
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Lamniformes

Time the record covers

At least 8.7 million years on record.

The record covers at least 15.98 Mya to 7.246 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 23.04 Mya to 3.6 Mya.

Oligocene — about 0 of 12 occurrencesMiocene — about 12 of 12 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 0 of 12 occurrencesPliocene24–23 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences23–22 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences22–21 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences21–21 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences21–20 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences20–19 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences19–19 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences19–18 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences18–17 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences17–17 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences17–16 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences16–15 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences15–15 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences15–14 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences14–13 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences13–13 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences13–12 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences12–11 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences11–11 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences11–9.9 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences9.9–9.2 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences9.2–8.6 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences8.6–7.9 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences7.9–7.2 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences7.2–6.5 Mya — about 1 occurrence6.5–5.8 Mya — about 1 occurrence5.8–5.1 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences5.1–4.5 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences4.5–3.8 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences3.8–3.1 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences15.98 Mya7.246 Mya23.5 Mya3.1 Mya

12 occurrences of Pseudocarcharias kamoharai on record, most of them in the Miocene. 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

12 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

Pirabas — 0.48°S, 48.17°WPirabas — 1.05°S, 47.16°WPirabas — 0.60°S, 47.31°WPirabas — 1.21°S, 47.16°WEsbarrondadoiro — 39.30°N, 8.12°WEsbarrondadoiro — 38.11°N, 8.36°WChagres Sandstone — 9.28°N, 80.04°WChagres — 9.27°N, 80.06°WPisco — 14.35°S, 75.89°WCubagua — 10.57°N, 64.24°W

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The named rock units Pseudocarcharias kamoharai has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed.

Pseudocarcharias kamoharai and its relatives

Miocene

Where Pseudocarcharias kamoharai and its relatives were recorded in the Miocene.

Found in the same rock

367 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 12 sites for Pseudocarcharias kamoharai, 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

7 references

Each of the 12 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 Pseudocarcharias kamoharai

Credit
NOAA Observer Program
Licence
Public Domain
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Pseudocarcharias kamoharai 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 itPseudocarcharias through timeFormations of the MioceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. (Matsubara 1936)