Les otolithes des Téléostéens du Plio-Pleistocène belge

• Main Author: Nolf, D.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: French
• Published: 1978
• Subjects: Plio-pleistocene boundary; Otolithus; Teleostei; Belgium; Antwerp; Gadus morhua
• Online Access: https://www.vliz.be/imisdocs/publications/260578.pdf

The study of approximately twenty three thousand otoliths from Plio-Pleistocene sites in the harbour region of Antwerp as well as a critical revision of already published material allowed us to identify a teleostean fauna with fourty seven species (including two subspecies and seven species in open nomenclature). Two of these, Ophidion springeri and Uranoscopus septentrionalis are new to science. The fauna is typical for coastal waters slightly warmer than those of the actual North Sea and caracterized by the predominance of Gadidae . Biostratigraphically this fauna is well individualized with respect to preceeding ones (only seven species in common with the Miocene fauna) and those following twenty-three species in common with the extant fauna). The following biostratigraphical subdivision has been recognized in the Upper Miocene and the Plio-Pleistocene of the Antwerp region: (1) an association with « genus ? Macrouridarum labiatus, Trisopterus sculptus, Gadiculus benedeni and Trisopterus luscus spectabilis , in the Sands of Deurne (Upper Miocene) (2) an association with Gadiculus benedeni and Merlangius pseudaeglefinus , in the Formation of Kattendijk (Pliocene) (3) an association with Gadiculus verticalis and Merlangius pseudaeglefinus in the Formation of Lillo (Plio-Pleistocene) (4) an association with Gadus morhua and Merlangius pseudaeglefinus in the so called « Icenian » deposits not present in Belgium but found in the Netherlands.