Jared C Posted May 31, 2021 Share Posted May 31, 2021 Hey y'all Here's a bone fragment that I think might actually be identifiable from a creek around the austin area. Ozan formation. My thought is it may be fish, but I can only really base that on size. I found some other pieces after the storm recently as well, but all the others are probably just "chunkasaurus". thanks for any input, I'd really appreciate it “Not only is the universe stranger than we think, it is stranger than we can think” -Werner Heisenberg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jared C Posted June 1, 2021 Author Share Posted June 1, 2021 Also, as a side note - if it is fish, is it possible to distinguish the species further? If so, what gives it away? “Not only is the universe stranger than we think, it is stranger than we can think” -Werner Heisenberg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M Harvey Posted June 1, 2021 Share Posted June 1, 2021 It looks reptilian to me. Fish bones tend to be more flaky. Reptile bones have a sponge texture. I think you have a plesiosaur caudal rib. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnJ Posted June 1, 2021 Share Posted June 1, 2021 I agree it looks more like reptile bone. However, given its eroded, partial form, I would take any ID 'with a grain of salt'. My guess from your photos would be one of the mosasaur metacarpals or phalanges. 3 1 The human mind has the ability to believe anything is true. - JJ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DE&i Posted June 7, 2021 Share Posted June 7, 2021 It looks like a possible turtle bone, I just can't put a finger on which one. I've some similar looking examples from the Isle of Wight. 1 Regards.....D&E&i The only certainty with fossil hunting is the uncertainty. https://lnk.bio/Darren.Withers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pachy-pleuro-whatnot-odon Posted June 7, 2021 Share Posted June 7, 2021 Not quite sure what to make of this, but some good suggestions were given. Myself, I don't see this being a mosasaur phalanx, however, as those have a flattened hourglass shape, and your specimen is neither flattened along one axis nor flares on the end. The shaft also seems not entirely strait, which you wouldn't see in non-pathological phalangi... And while I'm not able to evaluate the merit of Darren's suggestion of turtle, I believe he might be right. In any case, I think your find is too consistently cylindrical to be a plesiosaur caudal rib (see below thread for an example of one that is, but also how it compares to phalangi). 'There's nothing like millions of years of really frustrating trial and error to give a species moral fibre and, in some cases, backbone' -- Terry Pratchett Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mahnmut Posted June 8, 2021 Share Posted June 8, 2021 can you show us the cross-section of the tapering end? Try to learn something about everything and everything about something Thomas Henry Huxley Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pachy-pleuro-whatnot-odon Posted June 8, 2021 Share Posted June 8, 2021 30 minutes ago, Mahnmut said: can you show us the cross-section of the tapering end? That might not be a bad idea... Now that I'm having another look at it, I'm no longer as sure. Seems that the bone does indeed taper - which would make plesiosaur caudal rib the more likely candidate for me too... 'There's nothing like millions of years of really frustrating trial and error to give a species moral fibre and, in some cases, backbone' -- Terry Pratchett Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DE&i Posted June 8, 2021 Share Posted June 8, 2021 I've found many cryptoclidus caudal ribs here's one for comparison. 3 1 Regards.....D&E&i The only certainty with fossil hunting is the uncertainty. https://lnk.bio/Darren.Withers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pachy-pleuro-whatnot-odon Posted June 8, 2021 Share Posted June 8, 2021 5 minutes ago, DE&i said: I've found many cryptoclidus caudal ribs here's one for comparison. I must say the articulation looks rather similar to OP's bone to me, as does the overall shape of the bone, if you account for one side having become a bit damaged (at the top right in the photograph below)... May be a plesiosaur caudal rib, then, after all? On 5/31/2021 at 10:51 PM, Jared C said: 'There's nothing like millions of years of really frustrating trial and error to give a species moral fibre and, in some cases, backbone' -- Terry Pratchett Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mahnmut Posted June 9, 2021 Share Posted June 9, 2021 Hi again, if the damaged side has got a flat cross-section I would think it is a plesiosaur caudal, or maybe cervical, rib. You may have read above how long it took me to identify the one I have, I have not found anything similar while searching. Best regards, J Try to learn something about everything and everything about something Thomas Henry Huxley Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jared C Posted June 9, 2021 Author Share Posted June 9, 2021 On 6/8/2021 at 4:33 AM, Mahnmut said: can you show us the cross-section of the tapering end? Here are some more helpful angles - sorry for the late response, I've been on a bit of a pause lately “Not only is the universe stranger than we think, it is stranger than we can think” -Werner Heisenberg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pachy-pleuro-whatnot-odon Posted June 9, 2021 Share Posted June 9, 2021 Yeah, based on these photographs and the lack of signs of breakage, I'd say this is indeed a plesiosaur caudal rib. Beautifully flat...! 1 'There's nothing like millions of years of really frustrating trial and error to give a species moral fibre and, in some cases, backbone' -- Terry Pratchett Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpc Posted June 9, 2021 Share Posted June 9, 2021 caudal ribs? I have always called them chevrons, even though they are not fused in plesiosaurs. BUt it does look like one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mahnmut Posted June 9, 2021 Share Posted June 9, 2021 11 minutes ago, jpc said: caudal ribs? I have always called them chevrons, even though they are not fused in plesiosaurs. But it does look like one. Thats two different things, the chevrons are below the centrum, the ribs to the sides. I think the closer homologue to the ribs would be transverse processes in those who have them? Which one we have here I cannot tell. http://plesiosauria.com/anatomy/ (6th pic from top) Cheers, J 1 Try to learn something about everything and everything about something Thomas Henry Huxley Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpc Posted June 10, 2021 Share Posted June 10, 2021 8 hours ago, Mahnmut said: Thats two different things, the chevrons are below the centrum, the ribs to the sides. I think the closer homologue to the ribs would be transverse processes in those who have them? Which one we have here I cannot tell. http://plesiosauria.com/anatomy/ (6th pic from top) Cheers, J Thanks for this. I prepared a good portion of a plesiosaur years ago. I'll have to go back and look at my pictures someday. I think that was well before digital photography had entered my life. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pachy-pleuro-whatnot-odon Posted June 10, 2021 Share Posted June 10, 2021 1 hour ago, jpc said: Thanks for this. I prepared a good portion of a plesiosaur years ago. I'll have to go back and look at my pictures someday. I think that was well before digital photography had entered my life. Though a pliosaurid, I think the tail-section of this specimen of Peloneustes philarchus at the Naturmuseum Senckenberg in Frankfurt might serve to illustrate the point 1 'There's nothing like millions of years of really frustrating trial and error to give a species moral fibre and, in some cases, backbone' -- Terry Pratchett Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pachy-pleuro-whatnot-odon Posted June 10, 2021 Share Posted June 10, 2021 Another thing about chevrons, by the way, is that they're bifurcated, attaching to four points in between of two vertebrae - thus touching two spots per vertebra - whereas caudal ribs only articulate in one place... 'There's nothing like millions of years of really frustrating trial and error to give a species moral fibre and, in some cases, backbone' -- Terry Pratchett Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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