The Endemic Marine Fish Fauna From the Eastern Paratethys Reconstructed From Otoliths From the Miocene (Middle Sarmatian S.L.; Bessarabian) of Jurkine (Kerch Peninsula, Crimea)

Abstract

Reconstructing fossil bony fish faunas using otoliths is a well-established method that allows a diverse and dense record in time and space to be assembled. Here we report about a rich otolith-based fish fauna from the middle Sarmatian s.l. (middle Bessarabian) from Jurkine, Kerch Peninsula, Crimea. The study is based on more than 5,000 specimens constituting 36 different species, 24 of which are new and 2 remain in open nomenclature. This assemblage represents the first major otolith association described from the Bessarabian. It also represents a fish fauna from the last continuous restricted marine environment that evolved in the Eastern Paratethys, was recruited from the Badenian/Tarkhanian fauna, and was not affected by the subsequent Khersonian crisis. The association of otoliths is characterized by a high content of endemic fishes that derived from the relatively well-known early Sarmatian s.l. (Volhynian) fish fauna, and it contains certain faunal elements that were trapped in the then-secluded Eastern Paratethys and did not range into younger strata. This forced endemic evolution explains the unusually high percentage of new taxa.
 The fish fauna is dominated by stenohaline marine shelf fishes apparently recruited from the Konkian and earlier Sarmatian s.l. (Volhynian) fauna after the Karaganian crisis. The families Gobiidae and Gadidae benefited most in this restricted marine environment, while deep-water fishes disappeared with the Karaganian crisis. In this study, we discuss the further evolution of Eastern Paratethyan fishes as far as can be reconstructed from the relatively limited data from post-Bessarabian strata, and we also outline targets for future research in the field.
 The stratigraphic sequence of the Jurkine section is being revised based on a detailed suite of benthic foraminifera. Implications for the stratigraphy of the middle and upper Sarmatian s.l., their boundary, and the paleoenvironments of this part of the Kerch Peninsula are discussed.

Geology and stratigraphy of the Neogene section along the Oued Beth between Dar bel Hamri and El Kansera (Rharb Basin, northwestern Morocco) and its otolith-based fish fauna: a faunal inventory for the Early Pliocene remigration into the Mediterranean

“…However, the low yield of extinct taxa in the family with the most species in Dar bel Hamri, the Sparidae, could have a different cause. Otoliths of the Myctophidae (Brzobohatý & Nolf, 1996Schwarzhans, 2013b;Schwarzhans & Aguilera, 2013) and of the Gobiidae (Schwarzhans et al, 2020;Bratishko et al, 2023 ms, and literature cited in both studies) have been studied extensively and have in part been calibrated by finds of otoliths in situ (Bedini et al, 1986;Reichenbacher & Bannikov, 2021. As a result, the character analysis of otoliths of these two groups is more advanced than in Sparidae and aids the recognition of species.…”

Otoliths of Caspian gobies (Teleostei: Gobiidae): Morphological diversity and phylogenetic implications

“…However, according to Miller [52], the possession of transverse interorbital papillae rows and a much greater extent of anterior transverse oculoscapular row tra (extending downwards to or near the longitudinal suborbital row b vs. noticeably short of row b in Knipowitschia) appear to warrant recognition as a separate genus in any classification based on the head lateral-line system. In addition, paleontological data (otolith) by Bratishko et al [53] suggest that Hyrcanogobius is recognizable as a separate lineage in the fossil record since 11 million years ago. Molecular data of H. bergi are still missing, however, otolith data support the reassignment of H. bergi to the genus Knipowitschia Iljin, 1927, hereby highlighting the necessity of an integrative molecular, morphological, and paleontological analysis on these species to evaluate their taxonomy.…”