Upper Oligocene marine fishes from nearshore deposits of the Central Paratethys (Máriahalom, Hungary)

• DOI: 10.1007/s12549-017-0285-0
• Publication Date: 2017-06-14T10:44:00Z
• Authors: Márton Szabó; Gábor Botfalvai; László Kocsis; Giorgio Carnevale; Orsolya Sztanó; Zoltán Evanics; Márton Rabi
• Keywords: Euryhaline; Marine invertebrates; Palaeogeography

A rich and diverse ichthyofauna is described from the upper Oligocene (Egerian) sands of Mariahalom, Hungary. The site is dominated by brackish molluscs that are preserved together with rare marine and terrestrial vertebrates. Based on the isolated elasmobranch and bony fish remains, eight sharks, four rays and seven teleost taxa were identified from Mariahalom. The ichthyofauna represents a nearshore marine subtropical community dominated by odontaspidid and carcharhinid sharks and by euryhaline durophagous sparids and by sciaenid teleost fishes. Epibenthic feeders were common, whereas piscivorous taxa included barracudas, billfishes and numerous sharks, including the macropredatory Otodus angustidens. Palaeontological, sedimentological and stratigraphical data indicates a tide-influenced and fluvial-influenced nearshore palaeoenvironment with brackish lagoons and normal marine littoral habitats. The remains of terrestrial, brackish and nearshore marine invertebrates and vertebrates accumulated in a tidal channel. The systematics of the ichthyofauna is consistent with the palaeogeography inferred from invertebrates, i.e. a Central Paratethys connected to the Mediterranean area during the Egerian.