Abstract
The Messinian salinity crisis (MSC) has already strongly affected the Mediterranean ecosystems from the beginning of the Messinian. Here, the Tortonian, Messinian, and Zanclean size distributions of the most common mesopelagic fish species are compared in order to test the hypothesis that the MSC impacted the size and hence the biomass of Mediterranean mesopelagic fish in the late Miocene. The results suggest that, with appropriate data, a size reduction can be detected during the Messinian that is possibly connected to the MSC restriction of Mediterranean–Atlantic connection. Indeed, these preliminary data suggest an increase otolith size of Ceratoscopelus in the Zanclean.
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Acknowledgements
This research has been co-funded by the European Social Fund and the Greek National Funds through the action “Postdoctoral Research Fellowships” of the program “Human Resource Development, Education and Lifelong Learning” 2014–2020 which is implemented by the State Scholarships Foundation (I.K.Y.).
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Agiadi, K. (2019). Mesopelagic Fish Size Reduction in Response to the Messinian Salinity Crisis. In: Boughdiri, M., Bádenas, B., Selden, P., Jaillard, E., Bengtson, P., Granier, B. (eds) Paleobiodiversity and Tectono-Sedimentary Records in the Mediterranean Tethys and Related Eastern Areas. CAJG 2018. Advances in Science, Technology & Innovation. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-01452-0_12
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-01452-0_12
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