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a b s t r a c tThe Pirabas Formation of Early Miocene age represents the final stage of the central western Atlantic carbonate platform in northeastern South America, predating the emplacement of the Amazon delta system. The otolith-based fossil fish fauna is represented by 38 species typical of a shallow marine environment. A total of 18 species are described new to science from the families Congridae, Batrachoididae, Bythitidae, Sciaenidae and Paralichthyidae. The fish fauna was associated with high benthic and planktic primary productivity including seagrass meadows, calcareous algae and suspension-feeders. The break of todays shallow marine bioprovince at the Amazonas delta mouth is not evident from the fish fauna of the Pirabas Fm., which shows good correlation with the Gatunian/proto-Caribbean bioprovince known from an only slightly younger time window in Trinidad and Venezuela. Differences observed to those Early Miocene faunal associations are interpreted to be mainly due to stratigraphic and geographic and not environmental differences. We postulate that the emergence of the Amazonas river mouth close to its present day location has terminated the carbonate cycle of the Pirabas Fm. and pushed back northwards a certain proportion of the fish fauna here described.

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Zooarchaeological collections from shell mounds in Rio de Janeiro (2,470-4,632 cal BP) contain a high prevalence of swollen fish bones belonging to the Atlantic spadefish (Chaetodipterus faber), crevalle jack (Caranx hippos) and fat snook (Centropomus parallelus). Given the lack of knowledge of the bone degenerative process in senile fishes, this study analysed hyperostotic bone in zooarchaeological and modern specimens to obtain high-resolution morphology and microstructure reconstruction. We used microCT as well as X-ray diffraction to characterize the crystallographic changes associated with fish senility. Our results showed that trabecular microstructures in hyperostotic bones were consistent with estimated values of the per cent bone volume-to-total volume ratio (BV/TV) and were greater than 60% in cortical bone. Hyperostotic bones indicated a high radiograph density, and X-ray diffractograms showed a decrease in hydroxyapatite [Ca (PO ) (OH) ] and calcite (CaCO ) neocrystallization. These crystalline and density changes revealed an advanced stage of fish senile and indicate the vulnerability of ageing fish populations.

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