Suruga fundicola, Jordan & Snyder, 1901

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 : 426

Suruga fundicola Jordan & Snyder, 1901

(Figures 84–88)

Material: 38 specimens in total. Anda1 (8) RGM 962288, RGM 962289 , RGM 962290 ; Anda3 (8) RGM 962291 , RGM 962292 , RGM 962293 ; Anda4 (9) RGM 962295 ; AndaDeVos (2) RGM 962296 ; AndaCliff1 (1) RGM 962297 ; Roxas (10) RGM 962298 ; RGM 962299 ; Tiep2 (1) RGM 962300 .

The otoliths have a square to rectangular shape (OL:OH=1.06–1.12). The upper part of the posterior rim displays a pointed protrusion. The broadened ostial part of the medial sulcus is bent towards the ventral side. The crista inferior has an elongated to more ellipsoid thickening depending on the size of the otolith. The dorsal margin of the sulcus is regularly bent and has no angle. The area around the sulcus is thickened. The convex outer surface is decorated with a few irregular knobs and furrows, occasionally restricted to the dorsal rim vicinity; the highest thickness is reached at the midventral area.

Suruga fundicola is presently encountered along the southern Japan coasts and in the East China Sea. Its occurrence in the northwest sediments of the Philippines suggests that it has covered a larger area in the Plio-/ Pleistocene.

Figure 89 displays a small otolith from Roxas (RGM 962298; OL:OH= 1.05) that slightly differs from the ones shown in figures 105–109 by having an anterior ventral pointed protrusion, as the previous ones had a postdorsal pointed extension. The sulcus is comparable, as is also the thickening of the crista inferior of the smaller specimens of Suruga fundicola Jordan & Snyder, 1901. Comparison of the light and scanning EM pictures of this latter specimen shows the channels and entrances of a clionid boring sponge, which were formed during its stay at the sea bottom.