NEW HOLOCENE ICHTHYO-FOSSIL ASSEMBLAGE FROM EXTRUDED LAGOONAL OUTCROPS, CURONIAN SPIT, LITHUANIA

Abstract

Fish remains (ichthyo-fossil assemblages) offer important information about past ecosystems and serve as taphonomic indicators of sedimentation and burial history. In recent years, several sets of fish remains have been collected from lagoonal mark outcrops exposed along the shores of the Curonian Lagoon, Lithuania. Unfortunately, due to ongoing erosion, most of the fossiliferous deposits have disappeared in recent years. Here we present new finds of three separate fish bone accumulations from a previously unsampled outcrop. Based on previous data, these (bream-like) fish are likely mid-Holocene in age and have been buried in a thanatocoenosis, as reflected by the grouping and delicate nature of the fossils, especially the scales.