A Saw-Toothed Eel †Serrivomer glehni sp. nov. from the Miocene of Sakhalin Island, North-Western Pacific.

†Serrivomer glehni, a new species of the Neogene saw-toothed eel (Anguilliformes, Serrivomeridae) is described based on the 55 specimens from the Middle–Upper Miocene Kurasi Formation of Sakhalin Island, Russia. This is the third record of fossil saw-toothed eels since the recovery of partial skeletons from the Miocene of Japan and Italy. The new species demonstrates close similarity to the extant Serrivomer species in overall body form and shape of separate bones and their complexes. The new species is characterized by the "longidentatus" type of vomerine dentition and by a single branchiostegal ray protruding beyond the hyoid bar, which suggests a close affinity to the modern S. sector. It can be reliably distinguished from all other species of Serrivomer by its lower number of vertebrae (134 vs. 140–172) and its larger cleithrum, which is positioned under the seventh instead of the eighth vertebral centrum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]