Xiphiidae

The swordfish, also known as the broadbill in some countries, are large, highly migratory predatory fish characterized by a long, flat, sword-like, pointed bill. They are the sole member of the family Xiphiidae. They are a popular sport fish of the billfish category. Swordfish are elongated, round-bodied, and lose all teeth and scales by adulthood. These fish are found widely in tropical and temperate parts of the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Oceans, and can typically be found from near the surface to a depth of 550 m (1,800 ft), and exceptionally up to depths of 2,878 m (9,442 ft). They commonly reach 3 m (10 ft) in length, and the maximum reported is 4.55 m in length and 650 kg (1,430 lb) in weight.

Xiphiidae

Naturalis Biodiversity Center · 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
Also called
sword fishPBDB
Sits inside
IstiophoriformesPBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes

Time the record covers

At least 55 million years on record.

The record covers at least 56 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 59.24 Mya to 0 Mya.

Paleocene — about 1 of 38 occurrencesEocene — about 15 of 38 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 5 of 38 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 7 of 38 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 7 of 38 occurrencesPleistocene — about 2 of 38 occurrences60–58 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences58–56 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences56–54 Mya — about 1 occurrence54–52 Mya — about 2 occurrences52–50 Mya — about 2 occurrences50–48 Mya — about 2 occurrences48–46 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences46–44 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences44–42 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences42–40 Mya — about 1 occurrence40–38 Mya — about 2 occurrences38–36 Mya — about 2 occurrences36–34 Mya — about 2 occurrences34–32 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences32–30 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences30–28 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences28–26 Mya — about 1 occurrence26–24 Mya — about 1 occurrence24–22 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences14–12 Mya — about 1 occurrence12–10 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences10–8.1 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences8.1–6.0 Mya — about 3 occurrences6.0–4.0 Mya — about 5 occurrences4.0–2.0 Mya — about 5 occurrences2.0–0 Mya — about 2 occurrences56 Mya11.7 ka60 Mya0 Mya

38 occurrences of Xiphiidae on record, most of them in the Eocene. 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

38 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

20 formations

London Clay — 51.85°N, 1.27°ELondon Clay — 51.40°N, 0.83°EPisco — 15.58°S, 74.72°WPisco — 14.56°S, 75.67°WChandler Bridge — 32.98°N, 80.18°WChandler Bridge — 32.96°N, 80.13°WYazoo — 31.93°N, 91.94°WRed Bluff Clay — 31.37°N, 87.48°WElmore — 50.80°N, 1.20°WSelsey — 50.80°N, 1.21°WCastle Hayne — 35.01°N, 77.57°WJan Juc — 38.33°S, 144.30°EMoodys Branch — 32.90°N, 90.19°WYorktown — 35.36°N, 76.82°WAdaev — 44.11°N, 52.81°EAquia — 38.42°N, 77.26°WLa Meseta — 64.24°S, 56.60°WBahía Inglesa — 27.04°S, 70.79°WRaz-el-Ain — 35.71°N, 0.64°WVarswater — 33.67°S, 18.43°ELa Portada — 23.11°S, 70.36°WHorcón — 32.70°S, 71.46°WTupelo Bay — 33.24°N, 80.44°W

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The named rock units Xiphiidae has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 8 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Xiphiidae and its relatives

Eocene

Where Xiphiidae and its relatives were recorded in the Eocene.

Found in the same rock

1,237 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 32 sites for Xiphiidae, 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

33 references

Each of the 38 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. 21 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 content1

Picture of Xiphiidae

Credit
Naturalis Biodiversity Center
Licence
CC0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan was found. Smithsonian Open Access, MorphoSource and Sketchfab were all searched.

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 itIstiophoriformes through timeFormations of the EoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Swainson 1839