Turtle pieces? (3 of 3)

[PSchleis]

First year trying to identify turtle pieces on Myrtle Beach. I found this piece that confounded me.

 

It is mostly flat. As a matter of fact, three-fourths of it tailors away into a very thin piece. But about a third of it expands into a half-inch thickness with a marrow type look inside.

 

Could this be some kind of turtle foot/flipper? (Last picture might be best angle to see how it tapers.)

 

[turtlesteve]

Hard to get a good idea from the photos but could be the front most portion of the plastron (underneath the gular scutes).  There is a unique bone here called the entoplastron.

[Mark Kmiecik]

No foot or flipper. Those have foot/flipper bones in them which would have been prominent in a fossil this thin. Google turtle foot and click on images. Those foot and toe bones are fairly robust and the surrounding muscle, skin and tendons are generally not preserved because they either rot away and dissolve, or are eaten away by scavengers and insects and bacteria, usually long before the process of fossilization begins.

[PSchleis]

5 hours ago, turtlesteve said:

Hard to get a good idea from the photos but could be the front most portion of the plastron (underneath the gular scutes).  There is a unique bone here called the entoplastron.

Thank you. I found a drawing. I think I know what you mean!