''Seriola prisca'' (''prisca'' being Latin for "ancient") is an

extinct Extinction is the termination of an organism by the death of its Endling, last member. A taxon may become Functional extinction, functionally extinct before the death of its last member if it loses the capacity to Reproduction, reproduce and ...

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

of prehistoric marine

ray-finned fish Actinopterygii (; ), members of which are known as ray-finned fish or actinopterygians, is a class of bony fish that comprise over 50% of living vertebrate species. They are so called because of their lightly built fins made of webbings of sk ...

from the

Eocene The Eocene ( ) is a geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 56 to 33.9 million years ago (Ma). It is the second epoch of the Paleogene Period (geology), Period in the modern Cenozoic Era (geology), Era. The name ''Eocene'' comes ...

. Complete fossil specimens are known from the famous

Early Eocene In the geologic timescale the Ypresian is the oldest age (geology), age or lowest stage (stratigraphy), stratigraphic stage of the Eocene. It spans the time between , is preceded by the Thanetian Age (part of the Paleocene) and is followed by th ...

-aged

Monte Bolca Monte Bolca is an Ypresian, Early Eocene-aged geologic site located near Verona, Italy, Verona, Italy. A ''Konservat-Lagerstätte'', it contains an extremely well-preserved and diverse marine biota, including the most diverse fish fauna of any Ce ...

site of Italy. FOS673

It was a close relative of modern

amberjack Amberjacks are Atlantic and Pacific Ocean, Pacific fish in the genus ''Seriola'' of the family Carangidae. They are widely consumed across the world in various cultures, most notably for Pacific amberjacks in Japanese cuisine; they are most oft ...

s, belonging to the same genus as them (''

Seriola ''Seriola'' is a genus of ray-finned fish, with many species commonly known as amberjacks. Nine extant species are currently recognized, although these were formerly split into many more. Also, several species are currently placed in several oth ...

''), and is one of the oldest known members of the genus. Due to its age and it belonging to an extant genus, it has often been used to provide a minimum age constraint for divergence of the

carangid The Carangidae are a family of ray-finned fish that includes the jacks, pompanos, jack mackerels, runners, trevallies, and scads. It is the largest of the six families included within the order Carangiformes. Some authorities classify it as the o ...

radiation. It closely resembles and may be related to the extinct species '' S. natgeosoc'' from the

Bartonian The Bartonian is, in the International Commission on Stratigraphy's (ICS) geologic time scale, a stage or age in the middle of the Eocene Epoch or Series. The Bartonian Age spans the time between . It is preceded by the Lutetian and is follow ...

North Caucasus The North Caucasus, or Ciscaucasia, is a subregion in Eastern Europe governed by Russia. It constitutes the northern part of the wider Caucasus region, which separates Europe and Asia. The North Caucasus is bordered by the Sea of Azov and the B ...

, Russia. It was first erroneously identified in 1796 by

Giovanni Serafino Volta Giovanni Serafino Volta (1764–1842) was an Italian priest, naturalist, and palaeontologist, best known for his studies of fossil fish from Monte Bolca. Volta was an ''Abate'' (or abbot) and theologian. He was a Canon of the Imperial Basilica i ...

as a fossil specimen of the extant "''

Scomber pelagicus The mahi-mahi ( ) or common dolphinfish (''Coryphaena hippurus'') is a surface-dwelling ray-finned fish found in off-shore temperate, tropical, and subtropical waters worldwide. It is also widely called dorado (not to be confused with ''Salminu ...

''" (now synonymized with the modern

mahi-mahi The mahi-mahi ( ) or common dolphinfish (''Coryphaena hippurus'') is a surface-dwelling ray-finned fish found in off-shore temperate, tropical, and subtropical waters worldwide. It is also widely called dorado (not to be confused with '' Salmin ...

). In 1834, it was described by

Louis Agassiz Jean Louis Rodolphe Agassiz ( ; ) FRS (For) FRSE (May 28, 1807 – December 14, 1873) was a Swiss-born American biologist and geologist who is recognized as a scholar of Earth's natural history. Spending his early life in Switzerland, he recei ...

as ''Lichia prisca'', who considered it an extinct relative of the modern

leerfish The leerfish or garrick (''Lichia amia'') is a species of marine fish in the family Carangidae. It is the only extant member of the genus ''Lichia''. It is native to much of the eastern Atlantic Ocean, from the Mediterranean and western Black Se ...

. It was moved to ''Seriola'' by

Johann Jakob Heckel Johann Jakob Heckel (23 January 1790 – 1 March 1857) was an Austrian taxidermist, zoology, zoologist, and ichthyology, ichthyologist from Mannheim in the Electoral Palatinate. He worked at the Royal natural history cabinet in Vienna which later ...

in 1854. It could reach a length of .

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q131844700

† A dagger, obelisk, or obelus is a typographical mark that usually indicates a footnote if an asterisk has already been used. The symbol is also used to indicate death (of people) or extinction (of species or languages). It is one of the mo ...

Ypresian life Eocene fish of Europe Fossils of Italy Fossil taxa described in 1834 Taxa named by Louis Agassiz Prehistoric ray-finned fish