Habitat
Diorama by Peter Forey of Macropoma lewesiensis that lived in the clear water chalk seas of sourthern England 85 million years ago and grew to about 60cm in length.
Macropoma lewesiensis is known from the English chalk (Cretaceous, Turonian, 90 million years ago; marine environment)
Other animals living in the seas represented by the English Chalk include both vertebrates and invertebrates, with over 400 species described (Smith and Batten, 2002). These include:
- ray-finned fish (actinopterygians) and sharks
- marine reptiles such as turtles
- ichthyosaurs and plesiosaurs
- echinoderms
- sponges
- brachiopods
- bryozoans
- ammonites
- a variety of crustaceans
Macropoma belongs to the marine Latimeria lineage (Family Latimeriidae). The other major Cretaceous coelacanth lineage, the mawsoniids (Family Mawsoniidae), were freshwater fish (Cavin et al., 2005).
Latimeria chalumnae lives at depth, inhabiting rock caves by day (Fricke, H. and Hissmann, K. 1994), while the habitat of Latimeria menadoensis remains unknown (Fricke, H. et al., 2000).