Approaching the Khersonian Crisis: Fish otoliths from the upper Bessarabian (middle Sarmatian s.l.; Late Miocene) of Jurkine (Kerch Peninsula, Crimea)

After its separation from the world ocean, the Paratethys formed a large inland marine water body during the Serravallian and Tortonian (Middle to Late Miocene) with a diverse environmental setting that underwent multiple fast and short-lived ecological changes. The trapped bony fish fauna either adapted to the rapid ecological changes (forced endemism) or perished. A major event during the late Sarmatian s.l. (Kherso-nian; late Tortonian; Late Miocene) was the Khersonian Crisis in the Eastern Para-tethys, which is postulated to have