Squatina

Angel sharks are sharks belonging to the genus Squatina. They are the only living members of the family Squatinidae and order Squatiniformes. They commonly inhabit sandy seabeds close to 150 m (490 ft) in depth.

Squatina

Nick Long · CC BY-SA 2.0 · 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
Also called
angel sharkPBDB
Sits inside
SquatinidaePBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Squatiniformes
Life habit
nektobenthicPBDB, for Squatiniformes
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Squatiniformes

Time the record covers

At least 154 million years on record.

The record covers at least 154.8 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 201.4 Mya to 0 Mya.

Late Triassic — about 0 of 438 occurrencesEarly Jurassic — about 0 of 438 occurrencesEarly JurassicMiddle Jurassic — about 0 of 438 occurrencesLate Jurassic — about 2 of 438 occurrencesLate JurassicEarly Cretaceous — about 74 of 438 occurrencesEarly CretaceousLate Cretaceous — about 116 of 438 occurrencesLate CretaceousPaleocene — about 23 of 438 occurrencesEocene — about 86 of 438 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 20 of 438 occurrencesMiocene — about 83 of 438 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 19 of 438 occurrencesPleistocene — about 12 of 438 occurrences205–199 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences199–192 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences192–185 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences185–178 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences178–171 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences171–164 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences164–157 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences157–151 Mya — about 1 occurrence151–144 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences144–137 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences137–130 Mya — about 3 occurrences130–123 Mya — about 2 occurrences123–116 Mya — about 9 occurrences116–110 Mya — about 9 occurrences110–103 Mya — about 35 occurrences103–96 Mya — about 28 occurrences96–89 Mya — about 9 occurrences89–82 Mya — about 15 occurrences82–75 Mya — about 31 occurrences75–68 Mya — about 35 occurrences68–62 Mya — about 20 occurrences62–55 Mya — about 20 occurrences55–48 Mya — about 17 occurrences48–41 Mya — about 28 occurrences41–34 Mya — about 37 occurrences34–27 Mya — about 17 occurrences27–21 Mya — about 9 occurrences21–14 Mya — about 37 occurrences14–6.8 Mya — about 36 occurrences6.8–0 Mya — about 39 occurrences154.8 Mya11.7 ka205 Mya0 Mya

438 occurrences of Squatina on record, most of them in the Late Cretaceous. 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

438 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

168 formations

Hunstanton — 54.15°N, 0.17°WHunstanton — 53.68°N, 0.50°WLa Meseta — 64.24°S, 56.60°WLa Meseta — 64.25°S, 56.67°WFox Hills — 46.05°N, 103.88°WFox Hills — 46.47°N, 99.58°WFox Hills — 44.52°N, 102.39°WBerchem — 51.20°N, 4.44°EPalos Verdes Sand — 33.76°N, 118.29°WPalos Verdes Sand — 34.00°N, 118.20°WPalos Verdes Sand — 33.66°N, 117.90°WPalos Verdes Sand — 33.99°N, 118.45°WPalos Verdes Sand — 33.75°N, 118.29°WNavesink — 39.95°N, 74.79°WNavesink — 40.35°N, 74.17°WNavesink — 40.38°N, 74.21°WSpeeton Clay — 54.15°N, 0.17°WLondon Clay — 51.40°N, 0.83°ELondon Clay — 51.45°N, 0.16°WLondon Clay — 50.78°N, 0.65°WLondon Clay — 50.88°N, 1.30°WCalvert — 38.60°N, 76.51°WCalvert — 38.40°N, 76.50°WCalvert — 39.20°N, 75.60°WCalvert — 37.93°N, 77.51°WCalvert — 38.16°N, 76.83°WSables de Bracheux — 49.58°N, 2.65°ESables de Bracheux — 49.53°N, 2.75°EDongen — 52.73°N, 6.30°EDongen — 53.16°N, 6.22°EVarswater — 32.98°S, 18.15°EMarshalltown — 40.30°N, 74.30°WMarshalltown — 39.55°N, 75.65°WNewhaven Chalk — 51.45°N, 1.36°WNewhaven Chalk — 50.88°N, 0.81°WNewhaven Chalk — 51.53°N, 0.70°WBurim — 49.72°N, 31.51°EHythe — 51.24°N, 0.05°WSelsey — 50.80°N, 1.21°WGehannam — 29.33°N, 30.08°EGehannam — 29.30°N, 30.05°EBirket Qarun — 29.28°N, 30.03°EFerriby — 54.15°N, 0.17°WAshley — 33.05°N, 80.40°WAshley — 32.95°N, 80.18°WAshley — 32.97°N, 80.20°WHorcón — 32.70°S, 71.46°WMarnes de Donzacq — 43.75°N, 0.84°WTuffeau de St-Omer — 50.53°N, 3.15°ETuffeau de St-Omer — 50.44°N, 3.07°E

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The named rock units Squatina has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 144 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 113 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Squatina and its relatives

Late Cretaceous

Where Squatina and its relatives were recorded in the Late Cretaceous.

Found in the same rock

3,767 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 408 sites for Squatina, and this reads 240 of them. Of that, one read hit the database's own return limit, so every count below is a floor rather than a total. 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

226 references

Each of the 438 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. 214 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 Squatina

Credit
Nick Long
Licence
CC BY-SA 2.0
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
Squatina squatina · uf:fish:246747

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 itSquatinidae through timeFormations of the Late CretaceousThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Dumeril 1806