FITCH and BARKER: FISH FAMILY MORIDAE 



the otoliths (Karrer, 1971), the caudal complex 

 (Rosen and Patterson, 1969) , and the large font- 

 anelles in the exoccipitals through which elon- 

 gate hornlike projections of the swim bladder 

 extend and contact the auditory capsules (Svet- 

 ovidov, 1948, 1967). Unfortunately, the diag- 

 nostic fontanelles cannot be distinguished in two- 

 dimensional fossil imprints because of crushing, 

 and three-dimensional skeletal remains are ex- 

 tremely rare, so one must rely upon either oto- 

 liths or the caudal complex to distinguish fossil 

 morids. 



Otoliths are abundant in most shelly marine 

 deposits, but seldom are accompanied by other 

 skeletal remains. On the other hand, in deposits 

 where skeletal imprints abound, aragonitic sub- 

 stances, including otoliths, seldom remain. We 

 know of only one deposit where otoliths have 

 been found in situ in morid skeletal imprints. 

 This is a Miocene diatomite deposit east of Los 

 Angeles, Calif., and the morid is an undescribed 

 species. Apparently several species examined 

 by Danil'chenko (1960) from the Maikop de- 

 posits also have retained their otoliths, but he 

 did not mention finding them in morids. 



The tiny diagnostic hypurals of a morid caudal 

 complex are difficult to observe unless the fos- 

 silized skeleton is preserved in lateral aspect, 

 and such perfectly preserved specimens are ex- 

 tremely rare. In many of the gadoid skeletal 

 imprints that we have seen, the caudal is either 

 missing or so badly fragmented as to be virtu- 

 ally useless for determining relationships. 



In commenting on the material reported upon 

 by Danil'chenko (1953, 1960) we have relied 

 heavily upon information obtained from Daniel 

 M. Cohen, who examined much of it. During a 

 trip to New Zealand, one of us (Fitch) examined 

 fossil otoliths in the University of Auckland col- 

 lections and noted sagittae from four species of 

 Miocene morids, including both species reported 

 upon by Frost (1924, 1933) . In addition to two 

 unreported species in the New Zealand Miocene, 

 we have seen morid otoliths in the Miocene of 

 California (two species), Jamaica (one species), 

 and Poland (one species) which have not been 

 reported in the literature. One of the two spe- 

 cies from California probably represents an ex- 

 tinct genus, but additional comparative material 



will need to be examined before this can be de- 

 termined for certain. 



STRINSIA ALATA STEINDACHNER, 1859 



Danil'chenko (1953) placed this species from 

 the Upper Miocene of Europe in family Moridae, 

 based upon its presumed resemblance to the re- 

 cent Strinsia tinea Rafinesque, 1810, and to one 

 of his fossils, Strinsia sobievi. Subsequently, 

 he decided that his Strinsia sobievi was a brotu- 

 lid (Danil'chenko, 1960), and Cohen and Tor- 

 chio (1964) showed that Rafinesque's Stri^risia 

 tinea (the type species) was a macrourid. A 

 search for Steindachner's 5. alata in Vienna dur- 

 ing April 1971 was unsuccessful (Daniel M. Co- 

 hen, personal communication). On the basis of 

 published information it is not possible to asso- 

 ciate S. alata, described from a poorly preserved 

 partial skeletal imprint, with family Moridae. 



ONOBROSMIUS ELONGATUS 

 (KRAMBERGER, 1883) 



Onobrosmius (type species Brosmiiis elongat- 

 us Kramberger, from the Upper Miocene of 

 Croatia) was proposed by Bogachev (1938) for 

 fossil cods with a single dorsal fin, which is sep- 

 arated from the caudal fin by a small interval. 

 The absence of teeth on the vomer and palatines 

 was weighted heavily by Danil'chenko (1960) 

 in assigning Onobrosmius to family Moridae, 

 but none of the characters he reported for this 

 fossil genus or any of the species assigned to it 

 is diagnostic for the family. It very likely is a 

 gadoid, but its acceptance as a morid must await 

 examination of material on which any of several 

 diagnostic characters are clearly evident. 



PHYSICULUS RASTRELLIGER 

 GILBERT, 1890 



Fitch (1969) reported finding otoliths from 

 P. rastrelliger in Pliocene deposits at Los An- 

 geles, San Pedro, and Newport Beach, Calif. In 

 two of the three deposits that yielded Physiculus 

 sagittae, they were the most abundant otoliths 



577 



