Otolithes de poissons du Pliocène inférieur (Zancléen) des environs d’Alba (Piémont) et de la côte ligure

The systematic revision of the collection of Pliocene otoliths in the Museo Civico "F. Eusebio" at Alba allowed the identification of 145 teleost taxa of which 37 are new for the Mediterranean Lower Pliocene (Zanclean). The Zanclean Mediterranean deep water fish fauna was very different from the present day one. It essentially consisted of relicts from the Miocene fauna and of non-Mediterranean modern fishes. The neritic fauna, however, already started to show more resemblance to the Recent Mediterranean fauna. Two species are described as new: Polynemus raffii and Cirrhilabrus ligusticus