Abstract
Coastal fish assemblages are especially vulnerable to environmental changes, but little is known about their evolution through time, mainly due to the scarcity of fossil material from such settings. The aim of this study is to characterize the early Pleistocene coastal fish assemblages of the eastern Mediterranean and to reconstruct the related paleobathymetric and paleoecologic conditions. Based on otolith findings, we identified thirty-seven teleost fish species from three sedimentary outcrops on the northeastern part of Rhodes Island (southeastern Aegean, Greece, Eastern Mediterranean), which have been placed within the Gelasian (early Pleistocene). The stratigraphic distribution of fifteen taxa is expanded for this interval, while five species are reported for the first time as fossils. The otolith assemblages provided paleodepth estimates indicative of shallow coastal environments. The ecosystem consisted mostly of substrates of sand and mud, with significant rocky micro-habitats and underwater vegetation; the climate was subtropical. These data complement existing knowledge on the study area, while providing new information on the composition of the ichthyofauna of the eastern Mediterranean during the Gelasian.