The teleost fish association of Bad Freienwalde (Rupelian of Brandenburg, NE Germany) was reconstructed on the basis of over 14,000 diagnostic otoliths, discovered near a large fragment of driftwood. It consists of 26 taxa, of which 23 were identified to the species level. Of these, Ariomma astridae sp. nov. is new to science; fossil otoliths of Ariommatidae have hitherto not been recorded from the Rupelian of the North Sea basin. The association is dominated by Palimphemus parvus and Argentina parvula. Ontogenetic series of Anguilla rouxi and Pseudophichthys phaseoloides are presented here for the first time, and the large intraspecific variability of A. parvula is illustrated. Gobiidae indet. is the first representative of the Gobiidae for the Rupelian of the North Sea basin. |
