Echinorhinus blakei

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Echinorhinus blakei
Temporal range: Late Oligocene to Early Pliocene
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Chondrichthyes
Subclass: Elasmobranchii
Division: Selachii
Order: Echinorhiniformes
Family: Echinorhinidae
Genus: Echinorhinus
Species:
†E. blakei
Binomial name
†Echinorhinus blakei
Agassiz, 1855

Echinorhinus blakei is an extinct species of bramble shark from the Late Oligocene to the Early Pliocene of North America, where it inhabited both coasts. [1] Fossil teeth and putative dermal denticles are known from California, Oregon, Maryland, Virginia, and North Carolina. [2] [3] The species was first described from a fossil tooth recovered from Poso Creek in California by William Phipps Blake as part of the Pacific Railroad Survey, and named in honor of Blake by Louis Agassiz. [4]

It has sometimes been suggested that the species is conspecific with the extant bramble shark (E. brucus), although there are some clear distinctions between the teeth and denticles of both species. [2] [3] The teeth tend to be rather rare in the deposits they occur in, likely due to the presumed deepwater habits of this species. [2]

As a medium-sized suction feeder belonging to an ancient lineage, Echinorhinus blakei is thought to have been one of the most functionally unique shark species of the Neogene, and its extinction left a major gap in the functional diversity of sharks that persists to the current day. [5]

It is known from the following formations: [1]

References

  1. 1 2 "PBDB". paleobiodb.org. Archived from the original on 2021-12-30. Retrieved 2025-10-28.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Godfrey, Stephen J., ed. (2018-09-25). "The Geology and Vertebrate Paleontology of Calvert Cliffs, Maryland, USA". Smithsonian Contributions to Paleobiology (100): 2–274. doi: 10.5479/si.1943-6688.100 . ISSN   1943-6688.
  3. 1 2 Purdy, Robert W.; Schneider, Vincent P.; Applegate, Shelton P.; McLellan, Jack H.; Meyer, Robert L.; Slaughter, Bob H. (2001). "The Neogene Sharks, Rays, and Bony Fishes from Lee Creek Mine, Aurora, North Carolina". Biodiversity Heritage Library. Retrieved 2025-09-02.
  4. ↑ Blake, William Phipps (1855). Description of the Fossils and Shells Collected in California by William P. Blake, Geologist of the United States Pacific Railroad Survey in California, Under the Command of Lieut. R.S. Williamson, in 1853-54. sn.
  5. ↑ Cooper, Jack A.; Pimiento, Catalina (2024). "The rise and fall of shark functional diversity over the last 66 million years". Global Ecology and Biogeography. 33 (9) e13881. doi:10.1111/geb.13881. ISSN   1466-8238.
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