A marine Late Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) coelacanth from North Africa

An isolated, articulated, but crushed ossified lung of a mawsoniid coelacanth is reported from uppermost Cretaceous (upper Maastrichtian) of Oued Zem, Morocco. The specimen is the last record of a coelacanth before their pseudo-extinction at the end of the Mesozoic. The specimen is also the first record of a marine coelacanth in the Mesozoic of Morocco and the first occurrence of coelacanths in the phospahte deposits of North Africa. The large size of the lung suggests a fish estimated at between 3.65 m and 5.52 m total body length.