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Late Eocene gadiform (Teleostei) skull from Seymour Island, Antarctic Peninsula

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 May 2004

Joseph T. Eastman
Affiliation:
Department of Zoological and Biomedical Sciences, Ohio University, Athens, Ohio 45701-2979, USA
Lance Grande
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago, Illinois 60605-2496, USA

Abstract

On the basis of a skull from the late Eocene La Meseta Formation on Seymour Island, Antarctic Peninsula, a gadiform fish is reported from the Antarctic region for the first time. This specimen, the most completely preserved fossil teleost cranium yet described from Antarctica, provides convincing evidence for the presence of Gadiformes in a far southerly location under temperate climatic conditions 40 m.y. ago. The exoccipital condyles, supraoccipital and lambdoidal crests, and post-temporal and supratemporal fossae are well preserved, as are the roofing bones on the posterior half of the skull. Comparative osteological study indicates that these features are very similar in appearance to those of merlucciids (hakes) and gadids (cods).

Type
Papers—Earth Sciences and Glaciology
Copyright
© Antarctic Science Ltd 1991

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