Ctenacanthiformes

Ctenacanthiformes
Temporal range: 383–259 Ma Late Devonian— Middle Permian (Possible Valanginian record)
Life restoration of Dracopristis
Fin spine of Ctenacanthus formosus
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Chondrichthyes
Subclass: Elasmobranchii
Order: †Ctenacanthiformes
Glikman, 1964
Subtaxa

See text

Synonyms
  • Ctenacanthida Cappetta (1988)

Ctenacanthiformes is an extinct order of cartilaginous fish. They possessed ornamented fin spines at the front of their dorsal fins and cladodont-type dentition,[1] that is typically of a grasping morphology, though some taxa developed cutting and gouging tooth morphologies.[2] Some ctenacanths are thought to have reached sizes comparable to the great white shark, with body lengths of up to 7 metres (23 ft) and weights of 1,500–2,500 kilograms (3,300–5,500 lb),[3] while others reached lengths of only 30 centimetres (12 in) .[4] The earliest ctenacanths appeared during the Frasnian stage of the Late Devonian (~383-372 million years ago), with the group reaching their greatest diversity during the Early Carboniferous (Mississippian), and continued to exist into at least the Middle Permian (Guadalupian).[4] Some authors have suggested members of the family Ctenacanthidae may have survived into the Cretaceous based on teeth found in deep water deposits of Valanginian age in France[5] and Austria,[6] however, other authors contend that the similarity of these teeth to Paleozoic ctenacanths is only superficial, and they likely belong to neoselachians instead.[7]

  1. ^ Duffin, Christopher J.; Ginter, Michal (2006). "Comments on the selachian genus Cladodus Agassiz, 1843". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 26 (2): 253–266. doi:10.1671/0272-4634(2006)26[253:COTSGC]2.0.CO;2. S2CID 86094427.
  2. ^ Hodnett, John-Paul M.; Elliott, David K.; Olson, Tom J.; Wittke, James H. (August 2012). "Ctenacanthiform sharks from the Permian Kaibab Formation, northern Arizona". Historical Biology. 24 (4): 381–395. doi:10.1080/08912963.2012.683193. ISSN 0891-2963.
  3. ^ Maisey, John G.; Bronson, Allison W.; Williams, Robert R.; McKinzie, Mark (2017-05-04). "A Pennsylvanian 'supershark' from Texas". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 37 (3): e1325369. doi:10.1080/02724634.2017.1325369. ISSN 0272-4634.
  4. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference :0 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ Guinot, Guillaume; Adnet, Sylvain; Cavin, Lionel; Cappetta, Henri (2013-10-29). "Cretaceous stem chondrichthyans survived the end-Permian mass extinction". Nature Communications. 4 (1): 2669. doi:10.1038/ncomms3669. ISSN 2041-1723. PMID 24169620.
  6. ^ Feichtinger, Iris; Engelbrecht, Andrea; Lukeneder, Alexander; Kriwet, Jürgen (2020-07-02). "New chondrichthyans characterised by cladodont-like tooth morphologies from the Early Cretaceous of Austria, with remarks on the microstructural diversity of enameloid". Historical Biology. 32 (6): 823–836. doi:10.1080/08912963.2018.1539971. ISSN 0891-2963. S2CID 92392461.
  7. ^ Ivanov, A.O. (2022-06-05). "New late Carboniferous chondrichthyans from the European Russia". Bulletin of Geosciences: 219–234. doi:10.3140/bull.geosci.1845. ISSN 1802-8225.