First Record of Fossil Otoliths from the Siwaliks of India

Abstract

This is the first record of fossil otoliths from the Siwalik formation, palaeomagnetically dated to ~2 Ma, exposed near Village Nadah (Haryana, India). The fossil otoliths belong to the Channidae. One otolith is well preserved and is determined as Channa aff. striata (Bloch), whereas the other two specimens are corroded and can only be classified as Channa. sp. Our findings confirm and extend earlier records of channid fishes from those areas that were based on disarticulated skeleton remains.