THE FIRST RECORD OF PROBABLE HOLOCENTRIDS FROM THE LATE CRETACEOUS–EARLY TERTIARY OF NEW JERSEY

Well preserved fin spines recovered from the Cretaceous–Tertiary boundary interval in Upper Freehold Township, New Jersey, derive from previously unreported osteichthyans. These fin spines are highly ornamented and have elaborate basal articulation structures that bear striking similarities to dorsal fin spines found in members of the Holocentridae (Squirrelfishes and Soldierfishes). The abundance of these fin spines in nearshore marine sediments, and their co-occurrence with well-documented marine chondrichthyans, indicates that these osteichthyans were also marine. Holocentrids first appear during the Turonian of Europe and are thought to achieve global distribution by the middle Eocene via Tethyan Seaway connections. In post-Cretaceous geologic periods, occurrences of Holocentrids are infrequent but indicative of a continuous existence. The Upper Freehold Township fin spines support the North American otolith record in suggesting that osteichthyan species diversity is far greater than is represented in the regional fossil record of Campanian-Maastrichtian sediments and have the potential to expand the known geographic distribution of holocentrids during the Late Cretaceous.