Zanclean and Piacenzian otolith-based fish faunas of Estepona (Málaga, Spain)

Sediments of Zanclean and Piacenzian age are exposed along hill slopes near the community of Estepona (prov. Málaga, Spain) on the shores of the NW Alborán Sea (Mediterranean). Molluscs from these sediments are well known and here we present data on teleost fish otoliths. Our study reveals the presence of 209 taxa, including 17 new to science, all from the Piacenzian and 4 of them also from the Zanclean: Pythonichthys gibbosus nov. sp., Saurenchelys silex nov. sp., Paraconger pinguis nov. sp., Gnathophis henkmulderi nov. sp., Diaphus mermuysi nov. sp., Diaphus postcavallonis nov. sp., Kryptophanaron nolfi nov. sp., Bidenichhys mediterraneus nov. sp., Fowleria velerinensis nov. sp., Buenia pulvinus nov. sp., Gobius alboranensis nov. sp., Gobius lombartei nov. sp., Thorogobius mirbachae nov. sp., ‘Gobius’ pterois nov. sp., Snyderina stillaformis nov. sp., Prionotus arenarius nov. sp. and Pristigenys adrianae nov. sp. An additional 23 are recorded for the first time as fossil species and several are left in open nomenclature. The most frequent taxa (myctophids, macrourids, Gadiculus argenteus Guichenot, 1850, Micromesistius poutassou (Risso, 1827), Verilus mutinensis (Bassoli, 1906) and Deltentosteus quadrimaculatus (Valenciennes, 1837) point to a habitat at an estimated depth of 200 to 400 m. Further bathymetric comparisons of four major sites (one Zanclean and three Piacenzian) based on a distribution model of the extant taxa in our samples indicate marked differences in their depositional environments, with habitats ranging from bathyal to mixed bathyal/ neritic. Comparison of the palaeobiogeography of the nominal species with known Neogene assemblages from the Mediterranean and the adjacent NE Atlantic adds 25 nominal otolith-based teleost species for the Zanclean and 95 for the Piacenzian of the Mediterranean, and to the conclusion, that during the Zanclean the Mediterranean ichthyofauna probably was replenished from the Lusitania Province. Furthermore, the possibility of a refugium in the western Alborán Sea is discussed for some extinct teleost species. The scarce elasmobranch remains are also presented.