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Flying... something old, or what did I find?


Hugh Mongous

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Hello guys and gals!

 

I would like your views on something my best friend and I found some time ago.

We were out on a little road trip and stumbled upon a pile of dredged up shells and what not.

Always looking for something interesting, we went ahead and took a few scoops worth home.

 

What we found piqued our interest. Something that looked like a wing.

It felt like plastic so my friend held a lighter to it. Didn’t do anything, no smoke no smell.

 

We got to searching the net and a number of things came up that looked vaguely familiar.

Nothing we could definitively match it to though.

 

Now it’s been a while, it’s been sitting on a bookshelf in my house, and today I picked it up again.

Again looking at it, searching the net, and thinking could it be…. I don’t know.

 

Based on what I found on the net and with some imagination I thought it could be part of a small flying dinosaur like Microraptor or Archaeopteryx or something similar. Hopes are high, I must say.

Could be something entirely different. I’m not even sure this is an actual fossil or just some dried out wing from a species that still exists.

 

My gut says it’s old, but I’m skeptical at the same time. Most fossils from the Jurassic and before are stone imprints (I'm sure that’s not the correct terminology) whereas this is an actual piece of a creature, perhaps petrified?

 

Anyway, please have a gander at the photos and tell me what you think.

 

 

https://photos.app.goo.gl/ALryjDDDM2rW84948

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For reference it's better to post the photos here. Sometimes links get taken down, and in the future if someone's looking to ID something similar photos could prove useful. I got you though:

1.jpg

2.jpg

3.jpg

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It looks fishy to me, also.

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" We are not separate and independent entities, but like links in a chain, and we could not by any means be what we are without those who went before us and showed us the way. "

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8 minutes ago, Rockwood said:

Fish bone.

No stuff?

 

That´d be pretty disappointing.

I was sure I could see a wing in that, even some possible imprints of feathers. Maybe the photos don´t show it clearly, or maybe I´m just hoping for too much.

Edited by Hugh Mongous
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Fish scapulocoracoid. 

It is part of the shoulder girdle, that connects the pectoral fin to the skull/cleithrum. 

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    Tim    VETERAN SHALE SPLITTER

   MOTM.png.61350469b02f439fd4d5d77c2c69da85.png      PaleoPartner.png.30c01982e09b0cc0b7d9d6a7a21f56c6.png.a600039856933851eeea617ca3f2d15f.png     Postmaster1.jpg.900efa599049929531fa81981f028e24.jpg    VFOTM.png.f1b09c78bf88298b009b0da14ef44cf0.png  VFOTM APRIL - 2015  

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"In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks."
John Muir ~ ~ ~ ~   ><))))( *>  About Me      

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Wow, there goes my hope of having found something interesting!

 

Thanks for the quick replies tho guys.

 

Based on what you see, can you tell me approximately how old this might be?

It feels somewhat petrified to me, or could it be just dried out and recent?

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Harry got it correct.   Thanks for weighing in, Harry.  

 

63-Figure1-1.png

 

Image from HERE.

 

 

 

  • I found this Informative 6

    Tim    VETERAN SHALE SPLITTER

   MOTM.png.61350469b02f439fd4d5d77c2c69da85.png      PaleoPartner.png.30c01982e09b0cc0b7d9d6a7a21f56c6.png.a600039856933851eeea617ca3f2d15f.png     Postmaster1.jpg.900efa599049929531fa81981f028e24.jpg    VFOTM.png.f1b09c78bf88298b009b0da14ef44cf0.png  VFOTM APRIL - 2015  

__________________________________________________
"In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks."
John Muir ~ ~ ~ ~   ><))))( *>  About Me      

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Well that's it i guess.

Thanks for the illustrations, they help. I get the picture now.

 

I'm having a laugh now. My friend and I both thought we had something darn old and pretty interesting.

A fish bone... we never thought of that.

 

Probably not very old in any case. Too bad.

 

Thanks guys, for bursting my bubble.

No really, i appreciate the quick responses. :)

 

I have another one i'd like you to take a look at. Little conulus fossil i found. Too late to take photos now, will do so tomorrow.

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I'm still rather curious about this find.

 

Now that it's identified, could someone shed a light on how old it might be?

As I mentioned earlier, it feels petrified to me, but maybe it just hardened as a result of drying out.

Contrary to what I said earlier, it does smell when held to a flame. It smells like burnt hair, so in my mind that pretty much rules out petrifaction.

 

It was found in a heap of shells which typically get dredged up with sand from lakes around here, these shell layers are typically at a depth of 20 and 60 meters (65 to 200 feet) if I'm correct. Not sure what time scale we're talking about, maybe someone else knows.

Hopefully this bit of info will help to satisfy my curiosity.

 

I'm just hoping it is in fact a fossil and at least a few thousand years old, and not a piece of cod from last week's dinner. <_<

 

Thanks again.

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If it smells like burnt hair the odds strongly favor it being less than 10,000 years old. I think usually this question is answered considerably younger.

Bone stains quickly, so dinner is still on the table. Hundreds is where I would place the most chips myself.

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Gotta agree with @Rockwood, if it smells like burnt hair, it is probably recent. The only thing that might make you think significantly older than last week is that if it is a gaddidae as @Harry Pristissuggested, they are pretty much a marine group of fishes. If you found it relatively far from the sea (I know in the Netherlands nothing is really far from the sea), then maybe it’s at the older end of “recent” but we’re probably splitting hairs here. Then again, I’m no Dutch fish range expert - haha!  

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38 minutes ago, ClearLake said:

The only thing that might make you think significantly older than last week is that if it is a gaddidae as @Harry Pristissuggested, they are pretty much a marine group of fishes. 

That's another chip on hundreds for me. Thinking salt codfish were likely shipped with the heads still on (tongues and cheeks).

Burbot are freshwater fish in a subfamily that might fit the bill as well. 

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3 hours ago, Hugh Mongous said:

It was found in a heap of shells which typically get dredged up with sand from lakes around here, these shell layers are typically at a depth of 20 and 60 meters (65 to 200 feet) 

The shells, marine or freshwater species ?

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It really should not be surprising to find fish remains in the vicinity of the dredged lakes.  Various birds or other wildlife often eat their meals away from the water.

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The human mind has the ability to believe anything is true.  -  JJ

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19 hours ago, Rockwood said:

The shells, marine or freshwater species ?

Most likely marine species. When these layers were deposited, large parts of the Netherlands were open sea.

 

Anyway, I'll settle for something hundreds to maybe a few thousand years old. Not particularly interesting, but then again I didn't go out hunting for fossils when I found this.

I'll just keep it 'cause it looks interesting.

 

Thanks for all the info guys, I really appreciate it. :)

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I have an operculum (?) bone, likely from a burbot, in a pigeon hole in the dashboard of the truck now. 

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