Palaeontology of the preevaporitic Messinian fossil fish locality of Roddi, near Alba (Piedmont, Italy).
The palaeontological excavations carried out by the Museum "F. Eusebio" during the construction of the housing estate Roddi Cadonia have produced several hundred more or less complete fish skeletons and some molluscs. The Messinian age of this locality was determined using the nannoplankton. Like in the Tortonian fish fauna of Tanaro, Myctophids are, together with the Clupeid species Alosa elongata Agassiz, the dominant taxa. This association is indicative of an environment of moderate depth which, probably, did not exceed 200 metres, as suggested by the occurrence of a school of the epipelagic species Alosa elongata Agassiz in the lower part of the fossiliferous strata. Like for the fish fauna, the malacofauna is strongly reminiscent of that from the Tortonian of Tanaro, especially if we take also into consideration the molluscs found in the levels directly overlying the strata which has yielded the fishes
