Article Summary:

A paper published in the journal Annales de Paléontologie announces the discovery of the earliest fossil record of pygmy pipefish (Hippotropiscis frenki,) from the Miocene Coprolitic Horizon, Tunjice Hills, Slovenia. The pipefish lived among seagrasses and macroalgae and probably also on a mud and silt bottom in the temperate shallow coastal waters of the western part of the Central Paratethys Sea. It is likely that they were closely related to modern seahorses. The fossil fish probably died during a bout of severe oxygen depletion in the lagoon, which also prevented the animals from decaying before being fossilized.