New ancient fish species earliest known salmon ancestor | UAF news and information
Cypriniform abdominal centrum from the Prince Creek Formation (A, UAMES 54154) compared with an extant cypriniform abdominal centrum (B, Catostomus Catostomus, TMP 1990.0007.303) in (from left to right): anterior, left lateral, posterior, dorsal and ventral view. Images in A are digital reconstructions from computed tomography scans; images in B are photographs of specimens dusted with ammonium chloride. Scale bars represent 1 mm.
It’s no surprise then that this is just another such paper. It reports on the discovery of fossil ancestors of modern salmon which lived in Alaskan rivers, 70 million years ago, pushing back the earliest ancestral salmon so far discovered by 20 million years.
The discovery was made by palaeontologists from the University of Alaska, Fairbanks led by Patrick Druckenmiller, director of the University of Alaska Museum of the North. They have just published their findings, open access, in the journal, Papers in Palaeontology. Their work is also explained in a University of Alaska, Fairbanks, news item:
What information do you have on the Prince Creek Formation, Alaska, where fossils of the oldest known ancestor of the salmonidae have been discovered? The Prince Creek Formation is a geologic formation located in northern Alaska. It dates to the Late Cretaceous period, approximately 73 million years ago, and is renowned for its well-preserved vertebrate fossils, including dinosaurs, mammals, and fish. Recent discoveries from this formation have significantly advanced our understanding of the early evolution of the Salmonidae family.
Discovery of the Oldest Known Salmonid Ancestor
In 2025, paleontologists uncovered fossils of a new fish species, Sivulliusalmo alaskensis, within the Prince Creek Formation. This species represents the earliest known member of the Salmonidae family, predating previous records by approximately 20 million years. The genus name combines the Iñupiaq word for "first" (sivulliq) and the Latin word for "salmon" (salmo), reflecting its status as the earliest known salmonid.[1,2]
Prior to this discovery, the oldest documented salmonid was Eosalmo driftwoodensis, found in Early Eocene deposits in British Columbia and Washington State, dating to about 50 million years ago.[3]
Significance of the Prince Creek Formation
The Prince Creek Formation provides a unique window into high-latitude ecosystems during the Late Cretaceous. Despite being located near the ancient Arctic Circle, the region supported a diverse array of life, including early relatives of modern salmon, pike, and carp. The discovery of Sivulliusalmo alaskensis suggests that salmonids were already adapted to the challenging conditions of the Arctic, such as extended periods of darkness and seasonal temperature fluctuations.[1,4]
These findings underscore the importance of the Prince Creek Formation in understanding the evolutionary history of northern freshwater fish and the resilience of early vertebrate life in polar environments.[4]
New ancient fish species earliest known salmon ancestor
The Arctic landscape during the Cretaceous Period may have been dominated by the dinosaurs, but the rivers and streams held something more familiar.
Alaska’s fresh waters 73 million years ago were teeming with the ancient relatives of today’s salmon, pike and other northern fish. A new paper published this week in the journal Papers in Palaeontology has named three new species of fish from that time period, including a salmonid, dubbed Sivulliusalmo alaskensis.
This is not only a new species; it’s the oldest salmonid in the fossil record.
Patrick S. Druckenmiller, senior author
University of Alaska Museum
Fairbanks, Alaska, USA.
The paper also documents multiple other species of ancient fish new to the Arctic, including two new species of pike and the oldest record of the group that includes carp and minnows.
Many of the fish groups that we think of as being distinctive today in the high-latitude environment in Alaska were already in place at the same time as dinosaurs.
Patrick S. Druckenmiller.
The discovery of Sivulliusalmo alaskensis — the genus is named from the Inupiaq and Latin words for “to be first” and “salmon,” respectively — adds another 20 million years to the fossil history of the salmon family. Previously, the oldest salmonid documented was in fossils found in British Columbia and Washington.
It’s notable that salmonids, which tend to prefer colder water, were thriving even during the warmth of the Cretaceous, and that they lived for millions of years in regions that have gone through dramatic changes in geography and climate. Despite it being warmer in the Arctic at that time, there would have still been big seasonal swings in temperature and light, just like there are today.
Salmon were already the kind of fish that do well in a place where those dramatic shifts were happening. Despite all of the changes that the planet has gone through, all of the changes in the geography and the climate, you still had the ancestors of the same groups of species that dominate the fresh waters of the region today.
J. Andrés López, co-author.
University of Alaska Museum
Fairbanks, Alaska, USA.
The new species are the latest discovery to come from the Prince Creek Formation, which is famous for dinosaur fossils found at a series of sites along the Colville River in northern Alaska. In the Cretaceous, Alaska was much closer to the North Pole than it is today. For more than a decade, UAF scientists have been poring over thousands of sometimes microscopic fossils to paint a picture of a polar ecosystem during the age of the dinosaurs, including mammals, birds, and fish.
These types of fossils are often overlooked. You couldn’t begin to understand a modern Arctic ecosystem without understanding the smallest animals that live there. [The same is true for ancient ecosystems.]
Patrick S. Druckenmiller.
[Druckenmiller] and his colleagues intentionally aim to recover all the vertebrate fossils available, no matter how small.
The jaw of the new species of ancient salmonid is compared with jaws from trout and grayling.
Fish fossils are one of the most abundant types of fossils at the Prince Creek Formation, Druckenmiller said, but they are very difficult to see and distinguish in the field. So, the scientists hauled buckets of fine sand and gravel back to their museum lab, where they used microscopes to find the bones and teeth.
The findings in the current paper are primarily based on tiny, fossilized jaws, some of which would easily fit on the end of a pencil eraser, Druckenmiller said. To get a good look at the fossils, members of the research team from Western University in Ontario and the University of Colorado Boulder used micro-computed tomography to digitally reconstruct the tiny jaws, teeth and other bones.
We found a really distinct jaw and other parts that we recognized as a member of the salmon family.
Patrick S. Druckenmiller.
The presence of salmonids in the Cretaceous polar regions and the absence of common lower-latitude fish from this same time period indicate that the salmon family likely originated in the North.Northern high latitude regions were probably the crucible of their evolutionary history.
Patrick S. Druckenmiller.
The lead author of the paper is Donald Brinkman of the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology. Other UAF co-authors include Lauren Wilson and Zackary Perry. Scientists from Florida State University, the University of Colorado, Princeton University, Western University and LISA CAN Analytical Solutions Inc. also co-authored the paper.
Publication:
The discovery of Sivulliusalmo alaskensis is a significant milestone in our understanding of salmonid evolution. Not only does it push back the fossil record of the salmon family by some 20 million years, but it also provides insights into how these fish adapted to the harsh, seasonal environments of high-latitude ecosystems during the Late Cretaceous.Abstract
The Upper Cretaceous Prince Creek Formation (PCF) of northern Alaska offers a unique glimpse into northern high-latitude, non-marine vertebrate assemblages, providing critical data on polar ecosystems during the late Campanian (c. 73 Ma). This study presents a comprehensive taxonomic assessment of fish fossils from the PCF, including macrofossils and microfossils obtained through bulk sampling. The assemblage demonstrates lower species richness compared with penecontemporaneous formations in mid-latitude North America, with notable absences of typical taxa such as Myledaphus, lepisosteids, and amiids. Teleost fishes dominate the assemblage, comprising both endemic species and taxa shared with the Western Interior. New esocids (Archaeosiilik gilmulli gen. et sp. nov. and Nunikuluk gracilis gen. et sp. nov.), the earliest known salmonid (Sivulliusalmo alaskensis gen. et sp. nov.) and the earliest known cypriniform suggest that these fishes possessed unique polar adaptations. The presence of the elasmobranch Squatina, as well as sturgeon and paddlefish in this assemblage further emphasizes the distinctive composition of this high-latitude ecosystem. These findings suggest that the polar environment significantly influenced fish diversity and distribution, supporting the hypothesis that some taxa, such as esocids and salmonids, were already adapted to higher-latitude environments during the Late Cretaceous. Additionally, the study expands our understanding of the latitudinal biogeography of Laramidian vertebrates, providing additional support for the hypothesis that a distinct polar faunal province, named the Paanaqtat Province, was present. This research not only enriches the palaeontological record but also offers new insights into the evolutionary and ecological dynamics of polar ecosystems during the Late Cretaceous.
The Prince Creek Formation (PCF) of northern Alaska, which was deposited at 80–85°N palaeolatitude (Hay et al. 1999; Spicer & Herman 2010), preserves the northernmost known non-marine Late Cretaceous vertebrate assemblage, providing rare insight into a Mesozoic terrestrial polar ecosystem. Recent U–Pb TIMS dates indicate a late Campanian age for these localities (c. 73 Ma; Fowler 2017; Druckenmiller et al. 2023). Thus, it is similar in age to Units 3 and 4 of the Wapiti Formation of northern Alberta, the Drumheller Member of the Horseshoe Canyon Formation of southern Alberta, the marine Bearpaw Shale of Montana (Ramezani et al. 2022), and the Williams Fork Formation of western Colorado (Fowler 2017; Walker et al. 2021; Minor et al. 2022.1). By virtue of its high palaeolatitude, the PCF significantly expands our understanding of the geographic patterns of vertebrate distributions in Laramidia during the Cretaceous. To date, all named non-avian dinosaurian species and mammals of the PCF are endemic to this region, indicating the presence of a distinct polar fauna, named the Paanaqtat Province (Erickson & Druckenmiller 2011). Notably, terrestrialized ectotherms (e.g. lissamphibians, testudines, choristodires, squamates and crocodilians) that are commonplace in warmer, penecontemporaneous lower latitude formations are absent in the PCF (Clemens & Nelms 1993; Druckenmiller et al. 2021.1). However, a diverse assemblage of fishes is present, represented by both isolated elements that were collected as individual specimens and micro-elements recovered from bulk samples taken from vertebrate microfossil localities. Here we present a taxonomic assessment of fish fossils from the PCF based on both macro- and microfossil remains and compare these data to North American fish assemblages from late Campanian to Maastrichtian-aged deposits at lower palaeolatitudes.
GEOLOGY
The PCF crops out discontinuously along the lower Colville River, on the North Slope of Alaska, a vast region that lies between the Brooks Range to the south and the Arctic Ocean to the north. The PCF represents a tidally influenced continental succession deposited on a low-gradient, Arctic coastal/alluvial plain that accumulated sediments eroded from the Brooks Range (Mull et al. 2003; Flaig et al. 2011.1). The formation consists of sandstone, siltstone, organic-rich mudstone, coal, palaeosols and bentonites deposited in fluvial channels, crevasse-splay complexes and floodplains (Phillips 2003.1; Flaig et al. 2011.1, 2013).
The PCF ranges from Late Cretaceous (Campanian) to Palaeogene in age (Mull et al. 2003). Due to a slight structural dip, the unit becomes progressively younger downriver (northward). Biostratigraphic analyses (Brouwers et al. 1987; Frederiksen 1991; Brouwers & De Deckker 1993.1; Frederiksen & McIntyre 2000; Flores et al. 2007; Fiorillo et al. 2010.1) from the upper, vertebrate-bearing portion of the unit near Ocean Point indicate a temporal range from as old as late Campanian to as young as late Maastrichtian. Although previous radiometric dating suggested an early Maastrichtian age (Conrad et al. 1992; Flaig et al. 2014), more recent work indicates the fossiliferous beds near Ocean Point to be late Campanian in age (Druckenmiller et al. 2023).
The fossil localities described here are currently located at 70°N (Fig. 1), but palaeolatitude estimates for the Late Cretaceous indicate that northern Alaska was positioned as far as 80–85°N (Witte et al. 1987.1; Besse & Courtillot 1991.1). Palaeobotanical proxies of Late Cretaceous Arctic palaeoclimate suggest a mean annual temperature of 6.3 ± 2.2°C, a warm month mean of 14.5 ± 3.1°C and a cold month mean of −2.0 ± 3.9°C (Spicer & Herman 2010; Herman et al. 2016). The biological implications of these physical parameters indicate that plants and animals endured freezing temperatures and up to 4 months of polar darkness during the Arctic winter (Spicer & Herman 2010; Herman et al. 2016). Estimates of mean annual precipitation based on two independent proxies suggest relatively high rainfall and humidity during deposition of the PCF, with the highest estimates of rainfall ranging between 1000 mm and 3900 mm per year, and lowest ranging between 350 mm and 1200 mm per year (Salazar-Jaramillo et al. 2019). Based on stable isotope analyses of bivalves, the palaeohydrology of the Cretaceous Arctic coastal plain suggests a constant mixture of freshwater inputs derived from uplands and marine waters associated with estuaries and lagoons (Suarez et al. 2016.1). Thus, time-averaged deposits such as those from which the fishes described here were derived represent a mixture of organisms that inhabited aquatic ecosystems with variable salinity.The fossil material described here was primarily recovered from screen washing and sorting of microvertebrate fossil assemblages at four major sites. Pediomys Point was discovered in 1988 by J. H. Hutchison (University of California Museum of Paleontology) and is located c. 8 km upriver from the well-known Liscomb Bonebed dinosaur site (Fig. 1). It consists of an association of lenticular bodies ranging from 2 cm to 15 cm in thickness and 5+ m in length that has produced a wide taxonomic assemblage of small (generally less than 2 cm in maximum dimension) vertebrate elements from fishes, mammals (Eberle et al. 2019.1, 2023.1) and larger non-avian dinosaurs (Chiarenza et al. 2020; Druckenmiller et al. 2021.1). OJsaurus, located c. 1.5 km downriver of the Liscomb Bonebed, was found in 2013 and largely consists of a single 5–30-cm-thick and c. 10-m-wide lens at the base of a massive sandy channel body. A rich assortment of small and large dinosaurs remains, some of which are over 30 cm in maximum dimension, are hosted in a microfossil-rich matrix with mammals and fishes (Druckenmiller et al. 2021.1). Jacob's Bed and Paul's Pearls, discovered in 2012 and 2015, respectively, are c. 50 m apart and separated by less than 1 vertical metre of section. These sites are further downriver, 1 km from OJsaurus and 10 km from Pediomys Point (Druckenmiller et al. 2021.1; Eberle et al. 2023.1). Both are single lenses, generally less than 10 cm thick and less than 5 m wide, that host a surprisingly diverse assemblage of small (generally less than 5 cm maximum dimension) vertebrates including avian and non-avian dinosaur remains, mammals and fishes. All four localities are broadly similar in lithology, being silty to sandy, organic-rich lenticular deposits. The sites primarily differ in the energy regime in which they were deposited, which probably accounts for the varying size difference of bioclasts found at each locality. Collectively, fossils recovered from these sites have undergone varying degrees of weathering and damage, although the preservation of delicate elements and lack of rounding seen in most of the material presented here suggest negligible transport. A fifth site, Hutch's Hips, produced a single acipenserid bone in the vicinity of the Liscomb Bonebed, but its geological context is unclear.
FIG. 1
Map showing the localities discussed in the paper. A, palaeogeographic map of Laramidia at 72 Ma showing key fossiliferous formations (reproduced with permission © Deep Time Maps). B, maps showing the location of the four vertebrate microfossil localities that yielded the material described in this paper.
Fig 2.
Squatina sp. A, tooth of Squatina sp., UAMES 52740 in (clockwise from top left): occlusal, basal, lingual, labial and profile view. B, UAMES 51616, denticle from Prince Creek Formation referred to Squatina
Fig 3.
Acipenseridae gen indet. A, UAMES 34967, right supracleithrum in: dorsal and ventral view. B, UAMES 53264, denticle in external view. C, UAMES 34808, fin spine in lateral view. D, UAMES 51969, fin spine in anterior view. Images in A, C and D are photographs of specimens taken with a macro lens, image in B is a photograph taken with a digital microscope. Scale bars represent: 10 mm (A, C, D); 1 mm (B)
Fig 4.
Polyodontidae gen. indet. A, UAMES 42417, skull element identified as a left posttemporal in: dorsal and ventral view. B, UAMES 51500, denticle with smooth lateral surface in: external, internal and profile view. C, UAMES 34025, denticle with ornamented lateral surface in: external, internal and profile view. Images in A taken with a macro-lens, images in B are photographs of specimen dusted with ammonium chloride, images in C are digital reconstruction from computed tomography scans. Scale bars represent: 10 mm (A); 1 mm (B, C).
Fig 5.
UAMES 52359, enamel-covered scale of unidentified basal neopterygian in: external and internal view. Images are photographs of the specimen dusted with ammonium chloride. Scale bar represents 1 mm.
Fig 6.
Horseshoeichthys armaserratus from the Prince Creek Formation (PCF) and Dinosaur Park Formation compared. A, UAMES 52338, anterior part of dentary from the PCF in (from left to right) medial, symphyseal and lateral view. B, TMP 2015.060.0036, dentary from the Dinosaur Park Formation in: medial, symphyseal and lateral view. C, UAMES 52336, centrum of Horseshoeichthys armaserratus from PCF in: anterior, left lateral, posterior, dorsal and ventral view. D, TMP 1993.093.0103, centrum of Horseshoeichthys armaserratus from Dinosaur Park Formation in: anterior, left lateral, posterior, dorsal and ventral view. Abbreviations: sens can, sensory canal; sens can pore, sensory canal pore; sym, symphysis. Images in A–C are digital reconstructions from computed tomography scans, images in D are photographs of specimen dusted with ammonium chloride. Scale bars represent 1 mm.
Fig 7.
Cypriniformes gen. et sp. indet. pharyngeal jaws. A, UAMES 52144 in: medial, lateral, dorsal and occlusal view. B, UAMES 52353 in: lateral, dorsal and occlusal view. Images in A are photographs of specimen dusted with ammonium chloride, images in B are digital reconstructions from computed tomography scans. Scale bars represent 1 mm.
Fig 8.
Cypriniformes gen. et sp. indet. teeth. A–C, laterally compressed branchial teeth from the Prince Creek Formation in lateral and occlusal view showing variation in shape: A, UAMES 53256; B, UAMES 53257; C, UAMES 53258. All teeth shown to scale. D–E, branchial tooth plates with conical teeth: D, UAMES 51592 in: anterior, medial, posterior, external and occlusal view; E, UAMES 51594 in: anterior and occlusal view. All images are photographs of specimens dusted with ammonium chloride. Scale bars represent 1 mm.
Fig 9.
Cypriniform abdominal centrum from the Prince Creek Formation (A, UAMES 54154) compared with an extant cypriniform abdominal centrum (B, Catostomus catostomus, TMP 1990.0007.303) in (from left to right): anterior, left lateral, posterior, dorsal and ventral view. Images in A are digital reconstructions from computed tomography scans; images in B are photographs of specimens dusted with ammonium chloride. Scale bars represent 1 mm.
Fig 10.
Oldmanesox canadensis. A, UAMES 51624, dentary in: dorsal, ventral, medial and lateral view. B, UAMES 51624, dentary in symphyseal view. C, UAMES 51617, anterior end of palatine with three rows of teeth, in: dorsal and occlusal view. D, UAMES 41589, mid-region of palatine, with two rows of teeth, in: occlusal and dorsal view. A and B are digital reconstructions from computed tomography scans; C and D are photographs of specimens; specimen C was dusted with ammonium chloride. Scale bars represent 1 mm.
Fig 11.
Esocid dentaries of Prince Creek Formation and Belly River Group compared, dentaries shown in: ventral, dorsal, lateral and medial view. A, UAMES 42044, Oldmanesox canadensis from the Prince Creek Formation. B, TMP 1986.23.51, anterior end of the type specimen of Oldmanesox canadensis from the Belly River Group. C, TMP 1995.057.0042, Estesesox foxi from the Belly River Group. All images are photographs of specimens dusted with ammonium chloride. Abbreviations: can indet, unidentified canal at anterior end of dentary; sens can, groove for the sensory canal. Scale bars represent 1 mm.
Fig 12.
Archaeosiilik gilmulli from the Prince Creek Formation. A–C, dentaries in: ventral, occlusal, lateral and medial view: A, digital reconstruction of UAMES 52356, holotype specimen of Archaeosiilik gilmulli
Fig 13.
Archaeosiilik gilmulli from the Dinosaur Park Formation, TMP 2019.60.30, dentary in: ventral, dorsal, lateral, medial and symphyseal view. All images are digital reconstructions from computed tomography scans. Scale bar represents 1 mm.
Fig 14.
Nunikuluk gracilis dentaries in ventral, occlusal, lateral, medial and symphyseal view. A, UAMES 42715 from Prince Creek Formation. B, TMP 2019.060.0236 from Dinosaur Park Formation. All images are digital reconstructions from computed tomography scans. Scale bars represent 1 mm.
Fig 15.
Premaxilla and maxilla of Sivulliusalmo alaskensis compared with extant Oncorhynchus mykiss. A–C, UAMES 51499, Sivulliusalmo alaskensis, maxilla, in: A, occlusal; B, external; C, medial view. D, UAMZ F9108, Oncorhynchus mykiss
Fig 16.
Dentary of Sivulliusalmo alaskensis compared with extant and fossil salmonids. A–C, UAMES 51874, dentary of Sivulliusalmo alaskensis, (holotype specimen) in: A, occlusal; B, lateral; C, medial view. D, UALVP 13482, marginal jaw elements of Eosalmo driftwoodensis. E, UAMZ F9108, dentary of Oncorhynchus mykiss in internal view. F, UAMZ F9135, dentary of Thymallus arcticus in medial view. Images A–C are digital reconstructions from computed tomography scans; D is a photograph of black latex peel dusted with ammonium chloride; E and F are photographs of specimens dusted with ammonium chloride. Scale bars represent: 10 mm (A–D); 5 mm (E, F).
Fig 17.
Anterior ends of dentaries of Sivulliusalmo alaskensis from Prince Creek Formation (A, UAMES 52350) and Sivulliusalmo sp. from the Dinosaur Park Formation (B, TMP 2019.060.0037) compared in: occlusal, lateral, medial and symphyseal view. Image in B reversed for comparison. All images are digital reconstructions from computed tomography scans. Scale bars represent 1 mm.
Fig 18.
Acanthomorph elements from PCF. A–B, spines of ?Beryciformes indet.: A, UAMES 42712, strongly asymmetrical spine with smooth lateral surface in: anterior, left lateral and posterior view; B, UAMES 53325, weakly asymmetrical spine with striated lateral surface in: anterior, left lateral and posterior view. C, UAMES 52358, acanthomorph indet. premaxilla in: dorsal and occlusal view. All images are photographs of specimens dusted with ammonium chloride. Scale bars represent 1 mm.Brinkman, D.B., López, J.A., Erickson, G.M., Eberle, J.J., Muñoz, X., Wilson, L.N., Perry, Z.R., Murray, A.M., Van Loon, L., Banerjee, N.R. and Druckenmiller, P.S. (2025)
Fishes from the Upper Cretaceous Prince Creek Formation, North Slope of Alaska, and their palaeobiogeographical significance.
Pap Palaeontol, 11: e70014. https://doi.org/10.1002/spp2.70014
Copyright: © 2025 The authors.
Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Open access.
Reprinted under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license (CC BY 4.0)
What makes this find particularly significant is its implication for the origins of a group so ecologically and culturally important today. Salmonids are keystone species in many freshwater and marine ecosystems, with lifecycles that span continents and underpin entire food webs. Tracing their lineage to such ancient Arctic environments challenges assumptions about the conditions in which early salmonids evolved and diversified.
As new fossil evidence continues to emerge, the evolutionary history of salmon becomes ever clearer, revealing a dynamic past shaped by climatic shifts, geological changes, and biological innovation. In *Sivulliusalmo alaskensis*, we glimpse the earliest chapter of a story that ultimately leads to the iconic salmon we know today — a lineage that has not only endured but thrived for over 70 million years.
It was perhaps optimistic to expect a rational attempt by creationists to reconcile these facts with their preferred Bible-literalist narrative. Unsurprisingly, raising the question in a Facebook group produced only the usual evasions — diversions, deflections, and a determined refusal to engage with the evidence.
Yet, creationism continues to stumble on, sustained not by evidence but by isolating its followers from it. Rather than encouraging critical thinking or fact-checking, creationist leaders feed their audiences a steady diet of disinformation — misrepresenting both science and the scientific method. Their strategy relies on conditioning adherents to dismiss inconvenient facts reflexively, ensuring that even the most compelling discoveries, like this ancestral salmon fossil, are ignored or distorted.
The irony is that creationism closely resembles an evolutionary process as it struggles to adapt to the hostile environment of scientific evidence. Hopefully, it is heading quickly towards extinction as the struggle overwhelms it.
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