Seriola prisca
{{Short description|Species of fish}}
{{Speciesbox
| fossil_range = {{fossil range|50|49|Early Eocene}}
| image = Photo Natural History Museum of Verona. Fossil of a specimen of "Seriola prisca," a deep-sea fish found at Monte Purga near Bolca 1964 - Touring Club Italiano 07 0524.jpg
| image_caption = Fossil specimen, Natural History Museum of Verona
| extinct = yes
| taxon = Seriola prisca
| authority = (Agassiz, 1834)
| synonyms = * {{extinct}}Lichia prisca Agassiz, 1834
- {{extinct}}Carangopsis analis Agassiz, 1844
- {{extinct}}Seriola lata Heckel, 1854
}}
Seriola prisca (prisca being Latin for "ancient") is an extinct species of prehistoric marine ray-finned fish from the Eocene. Complete fossil specimens are known from the famous Early Eocene-aged Monte Bolca site of Italy.{{Cite web |title=PBDB Taxon |url=https://paleobiodb.org/classic/basicTaxonInfo?taxon_no=440710 |access-date=2025-01-21 |website=paleobiodb.org}}{{Cite journal |last1=Carnevale |first1=G. |last2=Bannikov |first2=Alexandre F. |last3=Marramà |first3=G. |last4=Tyler |first4=James C. |last5=Zorzin. |first5=R. |date=2014 |title=The Bolca Fossil-Lagerstätte: A window into the Eocene World. 5. The Pesciara- Monte Postale Fossil-Lagerstätte: 2. Fishes and other vertebrates. Excursion guide |url=https://iris.unito.it/bitstream/2318/149338/1/Carnevale%20et%20al%202014%20The%20Pesciara%20F-L.%20Fishes%20and%20other%20vertebrates2.pdf |journal=Rendiconti della Società Paleontologica Italiana |volume=4 |issue=1 |pages=i–xxvii |hdl=10088/25678}}
It was a close relative of modern amberjacks, belonging to the same genus as them (Seriola), and is one of the oldest known members of the genus. Due to its age and it belonging to an extant genus, it has often been used to provide a minimum age constraint for divergence of the carangid radiation.{{Cite journal |last=Santini |first=Francesco |last2=Carnevale |first2=Giorgio |date=2015-02-01 |title=First multilocus and densely sampled timetree of trevallies, pompanos and allies (Carangoidei, Percomorpha) suggests a Cretaceous origin and Eocene radiation of a major clade of piscivores |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1055790314003789 |journal=Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution |volume=83 |pages=33–39 |doi=10.1016/j.ympev.2014.10.018 |issn=1055-7903|url-access=subscription }}{{Cite journal |last=Halasan |first=Lorenzo C. |last2=Lin |first2=Hsiu-Chin |date=2024-09-01 |title=Diagnostic applicability of mitogenomics in uncovering intraspecific carangid diversifications: insights into phylogeny, divergence time, and characterization of two cryptic Selaroides leptolepis mitogenomes |url=https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13127-024-00648-9 |journal=Organisms Diversity & Evolution |language=en |volume=24 |issue=3 |pages=417–434 |doi=10.1007/s13127-024-00648-9 |issn=1618-1077|url-access=subscription }} It closely resembles and may be related to the extinct species S. natgeosoc from the Bartonian of North Caucasus, Russia.{{Cite journal |last=Bannikov |first=A. F. |date=2002 |title=New Carangid Fishes of the Genus Seriola (Carangidae, Seriolinae) from the Middle Eocene of the Northern Caucasus |url=https://www.researchgate.net/profile/A-Bannikov/publication/266781727_New_carangid_fishes_of_the_genus_Seriola_Carangidae_Seriolinae_from_the_Middle_Eocene_of_the_Northern_Caucasus/links/546082290cf27487b450ceaf/New-carangid-fishes-of-the-genus-Seriola-Carangidae-Seriolinae-from-the-Middle-Eocene-of-the-Northern-Caucasus.pdf |journal=Journal of Ichthyology |volume=42 |issue=1 |pages=1-6}}
It was first erroneously identified in 1796 by Giovanni Serafino Volta as a fossil specimen of the extant "Scomber pelagicus" (now synonymized with the modern mahi-mahi). In 1834, it was described by Louis Agassiz as Lichia prisca, who considered it an extinct relative of the modern leerfish. It was moved to Seriola by Johann Jakob Heckel in 1854.{{Cite book |last=Geology |first=British Museum (Natural History) Department of |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Catalogue_of_the_Fossil_Fishes_in_the_Br/ZtEKAQAAIAAJ? |title=Catalogue of the Fossil Fishes in the British Museum (Natural History): Actinopterygian Teleostomi of the suborders Isospondyli (in part), Ostariophysi, Apodes, Percesoces, Hemibranchii, Acanthopterygii, and Anacanthini |last2=Woodward |first2=Arthur Smith |date=1901 |publisher=order of the Trustees |language=en}}