Revision of the 'dragon-head' cusk eels of the genus Porogadus (Teleostei: Ophidiidae), with description of eight new species and one new genus

The ophidiid genus Porogadus occurs between 800 and 5300 m in the tropical and subtropical world oceans. Fifteen nominal species have been described since 1878 and most of them until 1902. The genus has been highlighted as needing revision in recent compilations about ophidiiforms and here we present the first comprehensive review. Twelve of the previously described species are here accepted as valid with two being moved to the newly established genus Tenuicephalus n. gen. that encompasses fishes differing from those of Porogadus in the extremely weak ossification, the stout head, absence of head spines and absence of the “triple” lateral line system considered typical for Porogadus and a reduced dentition. In addition, eight new species are described: Porogadus caboverdensis, P. dracocephalus, P. lacrimatus, P. mendax, P. solomonensis, P. turgidus, Tenuicephalus multitrabs and T. squamilabrus. The species of Porogadus show a distinctive depth segregation with the majority of species having a demersal bathyal life-style between 800 and 3500 m and other species being more or less exclusively restricted to abyssal depths below 3000 m. The biogeographic distribution pattern of bathyal groups shows putative species pairs in the Atlantic versus the eastern Pacific and a clear separation of eastern Pacific from Indo-West Pacific species. The geographic effects and timing are being discussed that may have led to this speciation events. Generally, we found widely distributed species that are found far away from continental masses and others restrained to continental slopes and sometimes exhibiting regionalism. In abyssal depth, the Cabo Verde and Canary basins off NW-Africa have yielded three exclusive species, but it is uncertain at this stage whether this could represent a sampling bias with this area being extensively sampled by the Discovery research vessel (BMNH) over the years from 1970–1998. Another instance of a potentially endemic abyssal species is that of Porogadus melanocephalus in the Bay of Bengal. The latter has been caught with 45 specimens in a single trawl, representing the highest number of Porogadus specimens collected in any trawl and indicating that these fishes may actually not be as rare as one might assume from the literature

A late santonian fish-fauna from the eutaw formation of Alabama reconstructed from otoliths

The otoliths described here from the Late Santonian of the Eutaw Formation of Alabama, represent one of the earliest association of teleost otoliths known from North America and it is remarkable for its good preservation and species diversity. They were collected by the late C.K. Lamber in 1969 from a road cut on the Hurtsboro-Marvyn highway south of Marvyn in Russell County, eastern Alabama. It contains 18 taxa based on sagittae otoliths, of which 14 are identifiable to the species level, 10 species are new to science and five new genera. The new otolith-based genera are: Allogenartina n. gen. (Stomiiformes family indet.), Pseudotrichiurus n. gen. (Aulopiformes family indet.), Eutawichthys n. gen. (Beryciformes family indet.), Cowetaichthys n. gen. (Polymixiidae) and Vox n. gen. (Teleostei family indet.); the new species are: Elops eutawanus n. sp., Genartina cretacea n. sp., Allogenartina muscogeei n. sp., Pseudotrichiurus sagax n. sp., Apateodus? assisi n. sp., Eutawichthys compressus n. sp., Eutawichthys stringeri n. sp., Cowetaichthys alabamae n. sp., Cowetaichthys lamberi n. sp. and Vox thlotlo n. sp. In addition, 8 different morphologies are recognized based on lapilli otoliths, which however cannot be identified to a distinct taxonomic level except for a species of the Ariidae. Two taxa can be related to otoliths recently recorded in situ, pertaining to the genera Osmeroides and Apateodus. The otolith association bears much similarity with those of the Campanian to Maastrichtian of the USA described previously as indicated by the dominance of otoliths of the genera Eutawichthys and Osmeroides. Differences with those faunas are on the species level as well as in the accessory components. The abundance of otoliths of the albuliforms (Osmeroides), putative stomiiforms (Allogenartina), beryciform (Eutawichthys) and polymixiids (Cowetaichthys) characterizes a rather stable faunal composition through the entire Late Cretaceous of locations studied in the USA. The conundrum of interpreting the systematic position of isolated Late Cretaceous otoliths is discussed and the findings are correlated with the rich fish fauna known from articulated skeletons of the coeval Niobrara Formation. We consider the taxonomic position of the majority of isolated otoliths to be more or less consistent with the skeletal findings, but there are also a few otolith morphologies, which do not seem to have a skeletal equivalent in the Niobrara Formation, e.g. in osteoglossiforms, clupeiforms, stomiiforms and Ariidae

Fish otoliths from the middle Miocene Pebas Formation of the Peruvian Amazon

A small assemblage of 22 otoliths was identified from the historical collection of Bluntschli and Peyer gathered in 1912 on the Itaya riverbank at Iquitos, Peru (Amazonia), from the Pebas Formation. The Pebas Mega-Wetland System in western Amazonia during the Miocene represented a unique, albeit short-lived, biotope characterized by a pronounced endemic evolution with gigantism in some vertebrate groups (e.g., turtles, crocodylians). Thus far, fishes have mainly been recorded based on isolated skeletal remains and teeth. Here, we describe the first well-preserved otolith assemblage from the Pebas Formation. This otolith assemblage adds a new facet to the fauna by complementing the skeletal bony fish data, primarily with species of the Sciaenidae and, to a lesser extent, Ariidae and Cichlidae. The sciaenids and ariids indicate that migration must have occurred between the marginal marine environments to the north and the Pebas Wetland System. The otoliths also indicate the likelihood of endemic developments of adapted marine immigrants to the Pebas Wetland System, some of which have become extinct (Pogonias, Umbrina), while others now represent typical South American freshwater fish groups (Plagioscion). Six new species are described based on otoliths, one in the Cichlidae—Cichlasoma bluntschlii n. sp., one in the Ariidae—Cantarius ohei n. sp., and four in the Sciaenidae—Pebasciaena amazoniensis n. gen. et n. sp., Plagioscion peyeri n. sp., Pogonias tetragonus n. sp. and Umbrina pachaula n. sp

Fish remains, mostly otoliths, from the non-marine early Miocene of Otago, New Zealand

Fish remains described from the early Miocene lacustrine Bannockburn Formation of Central Otago, New Zealand, consist of several thousand otoliths and one skeleton plus another disintegrated skull. One species, Mataichthys bictenatus Schwarzhans, Scofield, Tennyson, and T. Worthy gen. et sp. nov., an eleotrid, is established on a skeleton with otoliths in situ. The soft embedding rock and delicate, three−dimensionally preserved fish bones were studied by CT−scanning technology rather than physical preparation, except where needed to extract the otolith. Fourteen species of fishes are described, 12 new to science and two in open nomenclature, representing the families Galaxiidae (Galaxias angustiventris, G. bobmcdowalli, G. brevicauda, G. papilionis, G. parvirostris, G. tabidus), Retropinnidae (Prototroctes modestus, P. vertex), and Eleotridae (Mataichthys bictenatus, M. procerus, M. rhinoceros, M. taurinus). These findings prove that most of the current endemic New Zealand/southern Australia freshwater fish fauna was firmly established in New Zealand as early as 19–16 Ma ago. Most fish species indicate the presence of large fishes, in some cases larger than Recent species of related taxa, for instance in the eleotrid genus Mataichthys when compared to the extant Gobiomorphus. The finding of a few otoliths from marine fishes corroborates the age determination of the Bannockburn Formation as the Altonian stage of the New Zealand marine Tertiary stratigraphy.Werner Schwarzhans, R. Paul Scofield, Alan J.D. Tennyson, Jennifer P. Worthy, and Trevor H. Worth

Fish otoliths from the middle Paleocene (Selandian) of southern Sweden

The first fossil otolith association from the middle Paleocene (Selandian) of Scania, southern Sweden is described. Forty-seven otoliths were retrieved from shallow wells representing 14 teleost taxa. Many specimens are small and/or eroded and, therefore, not identifiable to species level. Nevertheless, our findings indicate the potential for further fossil otolith discoveries in the region. The Scanian otolith-based fauna greatly resembles the better-known coeval association from Copenhagen, Denmark, but is relatively rich and diverse in perciform otoliths. The fauna records the first occurrence of Serranus? caribbaeus from the European Paleocene, and of Archaemacruroides ornatus from the Selandian of the North Sea Basin

A new species of the genus Verilus (Teleostei, Percomorpha, Acropomatidae) from Brazil

FIGURE 2. A. Verilus costai sp. nov., holotype, NPM 6028, 76.2 mm SL. B. Verilus pseudomicrolepis (Schultz, 1940), USNM 436691, 88.0 mm SL. Scale bar = 10 mm.Published as part of Schwarzhans, Werner W., Mincarone, Michael M. & Villarins, Bárbara T., 2020, A new species of the genus Verilus (Teleostei, Percomorpha, Acropomatidae) from Brazil, pp. 589-596 in Zootaxa 4751 (3) on page 593, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4751.3.11, http://zenodo.org/record/371464