Vertebrae?

[Beckickles]

Hi

 

I found this yesterday on the beach in Sidmouth, East Devon, UK

It was nestled in the rocks and part of a longer specimen- I was intrigued so was feeling around it and all the sand around it was loose (tide coming in, rock pools) and this middle section just popped free! I didn't have any equipment and wouldn't know what to do anyway so I brought it home rather than leave it as it would have been lost to the sea! There are others around, visibly. I am not even sure that this is fossil vertebrae but wondered what you guys think as I have seen similar photos online before. It's a shame I couldn't extract the rest but it's all still there, firmly attached to the rock. Any thoughts? There is also a mini fossil (wood louse type shape) on one end.

I have no knowledge whatsoever although I love fossils and have collected some over the years in the somewhat drier region of Provence, France! 

Initial photos on the beach, wet.

The others on 5mm squared paper at home. I haven't cleaned it up yet...

 

[CDiggs]

Welcome to the forum!

 

I'm not seeing any texture I'd associate with bone on this piece so I'd suspect something more along the line of a trace fossil like an infilled burrow.

16 minutes ago, Beckickles said:

There is also a mini fossil (wood louse type shape) on one end.

The mini fossil as you call it looks like a Chiton to me, which doesn't exactly narrow down when this might have formed as these guys have been around for a really long time.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chiton#

 

But, that all comes with the caveats that I'm really not very good with invertebrate material and even though I lived in Exeter for a year my knowledge of Devon geology is non-existent so perhaps someone better qualified will be able to provide a better answer.

[jpc]

and the chiton is still alive.. it is NOT a fossil.  

 

This is intriguing.  My initial thought was that this could certainly be a string of verts in a concretion, but I do not see any bone texture on the broken ends.  I am leaning towards just a weird concretion.  And that last few pictures where you show it in situ convince me that it is a concretion or a limestone layer.  

 

 

 

[rocket]

could you see any fine structure?

Looks like a column, but I do not think it is one. But, small part of my brain is not sure 

[pachy-pleuro-whatnot-odon]

Looking at this, my pareidolia is telling me this is a string of plesiosaur vertebrae, with neural arches towards the top (especially visible in the second "vertebra" from the left) and parapophyses lower on the vertebrae. However, the outermost vertebrae appear to be of too irregular size to really match this hypothesis, as well as there not being any bone texture. The pictures of the limestone block you got these from also suggests these are some form or natural concretion or traces of bioturbation. Still, maybe you could try cleaning the specimens a bit to see if a cleaned surface would be more informative?