Stethacanthus

Stethacanthus is an extinct genus of shark-like cartilaginous fish which lived from the Late Devonian to Late Carboniferous epoch, dying out around 298.9 million years ago. Fossils have been found in Australia, Asia, Europe and North America.

Stethacanthus

Montanoceratops · CC0 · 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
SymmoriidaePBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Symmoriiformes
Life habit
nektonicPBDB, for Symmoriiformes
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Symmoriiformes

Time the record covers

At least 94 million years on record.

The record covers at least 358.86 Mya to 264.28 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 382.31 Mya to 259.857 Mya.

Devonian — about 5 of 37 occurrencesDevonianCarboniferous — about 20 of 37 occurrencesCarboniferousPermian — about 12 of 37 occurrencesPermian385–381 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences381–376 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences376–372 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences372–368 Mya — about 1 occurrence368–364 Mya — about 1 occurrence364–359 Mya — about 1 occurrence359–355 Mya — about 1 occurrence355–351 Mya — about 1 occurrence351–347 Mya — about 2 occurrences347–342 Mya — about 1 occurrence342–338 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences338–334 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences334–330 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences330–325 Mya — about 2 occurrences325–321 Mya — about 1 occurrence321–317 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences317–313 Mya — about 2 occurrences313–308 Mya — about 3 occurrences308–304 Mya — about 2 occurrences304–300 Mya — about 2 occurrences300–296 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences291–287 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences287–283 Mya — about 1 occurrence283–279 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences279–274 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences274–270 Mya — about 2 occurrences270–266 Mya — about 2 occurrences266–262 Mya — about 4 occurrences262–257 Mya — about 2 occurrences358.86 Mya264.28 Mya385 Mya257 Mya

37 occurrences of Stethacanthus on record, most of them in the Carboniferous. 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

17 formations

Ohio shale — 41.47°N, 81.78°WOhio shale — 41.45°N, 81.83°WOhio shale — 41.38°N, 81.50°WBell Canyon — 31.31°N, 104.54°WJingyuan — 36.56°N, 104.68°ELinton — 39.72°N, 87.32°WOnaga — 40.48°N, 95.73°WCherry Canyon — 31.87°N, 104.84°WHeath — 46.95°N, 108.96°WWaverly Sandstone — 42.28°N, 84.96°WKazarka — 71.45°N, 53.04°EAltamont limestone — 41.80°N, 96.15°WStaunton — 39.85°N, 87.30°WSt. Louis Limestone — 38.91°N, 90.22°WSunbury Shale — 41.35°N, 81.84°WBorden — 39.13°N, 82.98°WCarbondale — 38.28°N, 87.17°WBoggy — 34.43°N, 96.96°WCutoff / Brushy Canyon — 31.83°N, 104.86°W

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The named rock units Stethacanthus has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 10 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Stethacanthus and its relatives

Carboniferous

Where Stethacanthus and its relatives were recorded in the Carboniferous.

Found in the same rock

98 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 34 sites for Stethacanthus, 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

15 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. 3 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 Stethacanthus

Credit
Montanoceratops
Licence
CC0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Credit
hsejira
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 itSymmoriidae through timeFormations of the CarboniferousThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Newberry 1889