Promegalops signeuxae

Promegalops signeuxae

Casier, 1966

Common name Tarpon / tenpounder
Fossil group Bony Fish
Order Elopiformes
Family Megalopidae
Genus Promegalops
Taxonomic status Accepted
Geological age Ypresian

Summary

Promegalops signeuxae was another early Eocene tarpon relative from the London Clay. Its cranial anatomy indicates an elongate-headed elopiform, a body plan associated in living relatives with active swimming and capture of smaller fishes and invertebrates. Because the species is known mainly from the head, details such as body depth, fin shape and exact prey remain uncertain.

Three-dimensional skull preservation reveals the organisation of the roof, orbit and posterior braincase. The species is part of a broader London Clay radiation of elopiforms, showing that tarpon-like fishes were already anatomically diverse in the warm marine environments of the Ypresian.

Quick Identification

Look for: an elongate tarpon-like skull with a low dorsal profile, broad posterior braincase and paired longitudinal skull-roof ridges; the cranium is more robust posteriorly than the narrow forward portion.

Diagnostic Features

  • Skull is elongate with a low, gently sloping dorsal profile.
  • Paired longitudinal ridges are developed on the cranial roof.
  • Posterior neurocranium is broad and strongly ossified.
  • Orbital region is long anteroposteriorly relative to skull depth.
  • Anterior skull tapers gradually rather than ending in a short deep snout.

Fossil Details

Preservation
London Clay fish skulls are commonly incomplete, compressed, pyritised or enclosed in concretions. Thin cranial margins and projecting processes are easily lost, and separated bones can be difficult to orient; species-level identification is strongest when several adjoining diagnostic bones are preserved together.

Recorded Fossil Sites

No fossil-site occurrences have yet been recorded for this species.

References

  • Casier, E. (1966). Faune ichthyologique du London Clay. 496 pp.. Trustees of the British Museum (Natural History), London View reference
  • Friedman, M.; Beckett, H. T.; Close, R. A.; Johanson, Z. (2016). The English Chalk and London Clay: two remarkable British bony fish Lagerstätten. Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 430(1), 165–200. Geological Society of London, London View reference
Last Reviewed
20 August 2026 Reviewed by Sam Harris