Sauropterygian falls?

[Renato Santos <dracontes@hotmail.com>]

Dear list members,

I happened to chance upon an interesting article on Nature (433, 557-668 10 
February 2005; pages 566-567) about communities thriving on sunken whale 
corpses.
The online version of the article is here 
http://www.nature.com/news/2005/050207/full/433566a.html
Perhaps off topic but I can't help wonder what animals would constitute this 
type of communities in the Mesozoic as there were sauropterygians and 
ichthyosaurs in those days.

Now comes the wanton speculation...

This means if there were these sorts of communities in the Mesozoic any 
finds of megafaunal fossils
in marine sediments will be more rare than they until now are supposed to 
be, and of course of cetacean fossils in the Cenozoic.
Though I think since the K-Pg produced a massive dead fall of not only 
marine animals but also terrestrial ones, that one could find a telltale 
signature in the sediments of that abyssal bounty.

Renato Santos

My online art gallery:
http://dracontes.deviantart.com
Comments and critics are appreciated.

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