Carangidae, Rafinesque, 1815

Van Hinsbergh, Victor W. M. & Helwerda, Renate A., 2019, Fish Otoliths from the Cabarruyan Piacenzian-Gelasian fauna found in the Philippines, Zootaxa 4563 (3), pp. 401-443 : 428

Carangidae indeterminate

(Figure 92)

Material: 1 specimen in total. Roxas (1) RGM 962266.

One well preserved specimen but with broken rostral point (OL>1.73, OH= 0.95 mm) is recognized by its very long cauda that bends sharply towards and nearly reaches the ventral rim at its end. The outer rims are ornamented with lobes, which are somewhat finer along the ventral rim than along its dorsal counterpart. The first coarse lobe forms a pseudorostrum; an excisural notch is present. The rostral part is broken, but suggests a prominent pointed rostrum. The outer surface is flat with furrows perpendicular to the dorsal and ventral rims, which join in the center of the outer surface. The crista superior is distinct and marks a depressed dorsal area in the middle of the otolith. The crista superior is slightly sigmoid along the sulcus and ends slightly upwards as the ostium widens reaching towards the excisural notch. This latter characteristic is reminiscent of Pseudocaranx .

The otolith is recognized as a member of the Carangidae family by its elongate shape and its characteristic sulcus. It differs from otoliths of Trachurus , by the general shape and lining of the crista superior in particular above the ostium. It has good resemblance to the specimens of Decapterus sp. as depicted by Rivaton & Bourret (1999) and a Pseudocaranx dentex specimen shown by Furlani et al. (2007). However, the deepest point of the ventral rim lies more to the anterior side in the latter species. The otolith specimens of Pseudocaranx dentex shown in Rivaton & Bourret (1999) vary by a flatter ventral rim, and a different posterior rim, which is accompanied less regularly rounded shape and a more ventrally located than our specimen.