Description
This dataset comprises 4,893 newly collected fossil otoliths from the Dahan River section in northern Taiwan, documenting an approximately 8-million-year sequence from the Late Miocene to the Quaternary. The dataset records the taxonomic composition and stratigraphic distribution of fossil teleosts and was compiled to investigate temporal changes in fish assemblages and community restructuring through the Neogene–Quaternary. Quantitative analyses of these occurrence data evaluate changes in assemblage composition, taxonomic turnover, and nestedness across successive geological epochs. The dataset provides a fossil record for assessing long-term changes in teleost communities in the western Pacific.
Data Records
The data in this occurrence resource has been published as a Darwin Core Archive (DwC-A), which is a standardized format for sharing biodiversity data as a set of one or more data tables. The core data table contains 1,392 records.
This IPT archives the data and thus serves as the data repository. The data and resource metadata are available for download in the downloads section. The versions table lists other versions of the resource that have been made publicly available and allows tracking changes made to the resource over time.
Versions
The table below shows only published versions of the resource that are publicly accessible.
How to cite
Researchers should cite this work as follows:
Lin, C-H (2026). A dataset of Neogene–Quaternary fossil fish otolith occurrences from the Dahan River section, northern Taiwan. GBIF dataset.
Rights
Researchers should respect the following rights statement:
The publisher and rights holder of this work is Pensoft Publishers. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC-BY-NC 4.0) License.
GBIF Registration
This resource has been registered with GBIF, and assigned the following GBIF UUID: 9a877c66-a48b-497d-ae0d-a142a5ffaffb. Pensoft Publishers publishes this resource, and is itself registered in GBIF as a data publisher endorsed by GBIF Bulgaria.
Keywords
beta diversity; turnover; Sciaenidae; biostratigraphy; Taiwan; paleoecology; occurrence; fossil otoliths; Occurrence; Specimen
Contacts
- Originator ●
- Point Of Contact
- Associate Research Fellow
- 128 Academia Rd., Sec. 2, Nankang
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9843-9729
- User
Geographic Coverage
Fossil-bearing localities along the Dahan River section in northern Taiwan, representing the Neogene–Quaternary succession.
| Bounding Coordinates | South West [24, 121], North East [24.5, 121.2] |
|---|
Taxonomic Coverage
No Description available
| Kingdom | Animalia |
|---|---|
| Phylum | Chordata |
| Class | Teleostei |
| Family | Sciaenidae, Muraenesocidae, Holocentridae, Bregmacerotidae, Haemulidae, Eleotridae, Congridae, Mullidae, Hemerocoetidae, Sparidae, Ariidae, Mugilidae, Cepolidae, Uranoscopidae, Menidae, Pinguipedidae, Carangidae, Engraulidae, Myctophidae, Bothidae, Leiognathidae, Apogonidae, Plotosidae, Priacanthidae, Cynoglossidae, Oxudercidae, Soleidae, Gobiidae, Triglidae, Ophidiidae, Synagropidae, Paralichthyidae, Sillaginidae, Clupeidae |
Project Data
No Description available
| Title | Gradual teleost modernization in the western Pacific: Neogene–Quaternary otolith evidence |
|---|
The personnel involved in the project:
Sampling Methods
A total of 151 bulk sediment samples, collectively weighing over 747.9 kg, were collected across the three studied localities, with individual bulk samples averaging approximately 5 kg each (Table 1). Prior to processing, all sediment samples were thoroughly dried and weighed. The sediments were then soaked in water and subsequently wet-sieved through a 500-μm mesh screen. All otoliths retained on the 500-μm sieve were hand-picked under a stereomicroscope. High-resolution micrographs of diagnostic specimens were captured using a digital camera mounted on a Nikon SMZ1270 stereomicroscope, with extended depth-of-field composites generated using Helicon Focus software. For broken or poorly preserved material, only specimens retaining diagnostic features (such as a largely intact sulcus acusticus) were included in subsequent taxonomic and quantitative analyses.
| Study Extent | The study covers the Neogene–Quaternary succession exposed along the Dahan River section in northern Taiwan, spanning approximately 8 million years from the Late Miocene to the Quaternary. Fossil otoliths were collected from fossil-bearing horizons representing successive geological intervals to document changes in teleost fish assemblages through time. |
|---|
Method step description:
- Sediment samples were dried, weighed, soaked in water, and wet-sieved through a 500-μm mesh. Otoliths retained on the sieve were hand-picked under a stereomicroscope, photographed when diagnostic, and assessed for preservation. Specimens with sufficient diagnostic morphology, including a largely intact sulcus acusticus, were retained for taxonomic identification and quantitative analyses.
Additional Metadata
| Acknowledgements | We thank members of the Marine Paleontology Lab, Biodiversity Research Center, Academia Sinica for their assistance in the field, Yen-Ting Lin (National Taiwan University) for providing multiple otoliths of extant fish, and Yun-Kae Kiang for the artwork. We also thank editors Daniel Marty and Lionel Cavin, as well as Werner Schwarzhans and an anonymous reviewer, for their constructive comments and reviews. This study was supported by the National Science and Technology Council, Taiwan (Grant No. 111-2116-M-001-033, 112-2116-M-001-017-MY3, and 115-2628-M-001-013-MY3) and Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan (Career Development Award, AS-CDA-114-L04) to C-HL. |
|---|---|
| Alternative Identifiers | https://ipt.pensoft.net/resource?r=teleost_modernization_western_pacific |