Fish-otoliths from the marine-brackish water transition from the Middle Miocene of the Belgrade area, Serbia.

Werner Schwarzhans,Katarina Bradić,Ljupko Rundić

doi:10.1007/s12542-015-0272-6

Werner Schwarzhans, Katarina Bradić + Show 1 more

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https://doi.org/10.1007/s12542-015-0272-6

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Abstract

We describe here the first fossil otoliths from the Middle Miocene (Badenian and Sarmatian) of Belgrade, Serbia. They were obtained from Lower Badenian outcrops at Slanci and from upper Badenian and Sarmatian sediments recovered from four shallow wells near the village of Barajevo. The otoliths from the Lower Badenian of Slanci represent fishes typical for an open marine environment, characterized primarily by the mesopelagic families Myctophidae and Bregmacerotidae, a faunal composition that is also well known from other time equivalent locations in the Central Paratethys. The upper Badenian and Sarmatian composition of the fish fauna, in contrast, is dominated by otoliths of the family Gobiidae, indicating a sharp environmental shift from open marine to shallow water, probably slightly brackish environments, which is also confirmed by the faunal composition of mollusks, foraminifera, and ostracods. Most of the gobiid genera identified in the samples from Barajevo represent small fishes of the so-called sand gobies with Ponto-Caspian affinities, such as Economidichthys, Knipowitschia, or Pomatoschistus, or are entirely endemic to the Ponto-Caspian Basin, such as Hyrcanogobius. Another group of endemic Ponto-Caspian gobies is the first fossil record interpreted to represent the genus Proterorhinus. These and other finds currently being investigated indicate that the origin of the extant, rich, endemic gobiid fauna of the Ponto-Caspian Basin dates back to a crucial time in the development of Paratethys during the Middle Miocene when it segregated from the Mediterranean with the onset of phases of low salinity in the basin. In addition, we briefly discuss the distribution of certain gobiid species during Late Badenian and Sarmatian as it begins to emerge. The following new taxa are described based on fossil otoliths: Hyrcanogobius hesperis n.sp. and Proterorhinus vasilievae n.sp.

Highlights

During the Middle Miocene, the Paratethys, a once continuous marine water body stretching from southern Germany and Austria in the west beyond the Caspian Sea and Aral Lake in the east, began to segregate into several basins and subbasins with varying environments giving rise to the development of a complex and interacting endemic evolution of its biota (Rogl and Steininger 1983; Rogl 1998; Popov et al 2006)
We describe here the first fossil otoliths from the Middle Miocene (Badenian and Sarmatian) of Belgrade, Serbia
This small and characteristic triangular shaped otolith has been widely reported from the late Badenian and the Sarmatian of the Central and Eastern Paratethys

Summary

Introduction

During the Middle Miocene, the Paratethys, a once continuous marine water body stretching from southern Germany and Austria in the west beyond the Caspian Sea and Aral Lake in the east, began to segregate into several basins and subbasins with varying environments giving rise to the development of a complex and interacting endemic evolution of its biota (Rogl and Steininger 1983; Rogl 1998; Popov et al 2006). The Caspian Sea and Black Sea with its freshwater distributaries constitute the highly endemic Ponto-Caspian bioprovince, the ‘‘survivors’’ of a Eastern Paratethyan paleo-bioprovince of earlier Neogene times. In teleosts, these endemic ‘‘survivors’’ are mostly species of the Gobiidae, a fish family well adapted to environments in the marginal marine to freshwater interfaces (Miller 2003, 2004). Sarmatian otolith associations from the Central Paratethys are even sparser, widely apart, and with few species (Brzobohaty and Stancu 1974)

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