Perciformes indet. Figure 9g Material 1 otolith, Shydlivshchyna, NMB P1221. Description A single, somewhat eroded, massive and roundish otolith of 2.5 mm in length. OL:OH = 1.12; OH:OT = 2.7. Ventral rim gently curving; dorsal rim high, with distinct predorsal angle. Rostrum broad, blunt, about 24% of OL; no excisura or antirostrum. Posterior rim rounded. Smooth and convex inner face with slightly supramedian, moderately deepened sulcus. Ostium wider and shorter than cauda; cauda very slightly flexed and reaching close to posterior rim of otolith. CaL:OsL = 1.15; OsH:CaH = 1.6; OL:SuL= 1.1. No ventral furrow; small but distinct dorsal depression. Outer face convex with postcentral umbo and very distinct and unusual outward oriented hump at rostral tip (Fig. 9g 2, g 3). Discussion Tis otolith is characterized by the extremely unusual outward-oriented hump at the tip of the rostrum, which to the best of our knowledge has not been reported from any other extant or fossil perciform otolith. It cannot be determined at present whether this feature has diagnostic value or represents some kind of teratological deformation.

Published as part of Schwarzhans, Werner, Klots, Oleksandr, Ryabokon, Tamara & Kovalchuk, Oleksandr, 2022, A rare window into a back-reef fish community from the middle Miocene (late Badenian) Medobory Hills barrier reef in western Ukraine, reconstructed mostly by means of otoliths, pp. 1-35 in Swiss Journal of Palaeontology (18) (18) 141 (1) on pages 22-23, DOI: 10.1186/s13358-022-00261-3, http://zenodo.org/record/11999827