clauklimo Posted May 25, 2015 Share Posted May 25, 2015 (edited) Hi, new here, hope everyone is having a great memorial day so far. I found this gardening today in south florida. Any experts care to chime in an opine? Thanks, im gonna make a necklace out of it so would like to kno what it is! and the approx age? Edited May 25, 2015 by clauklimo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clauklimo Posted May 25, 2015 Author Share Posted May 25, 2015 Dont think the pic went thru... here it is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Troodon Posted May 25, 2015 Share Posted May 25, 2015 Looks like a crab claw to me, let's see what others say. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
atpro5 Posted May 25, 2015 Share Posted May 25, 2015 I also agree it looks like a crab claw fragment. Possibly stone crab? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caldigger Posted May 25, 2015 Share Posted May 25, 2015 That was my thought, crab claw...especially found in broken shell matrix Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Auspex Posted May 25, 2015 Share Posted May 25, 2015 Yup; maybe some kind of stone crab? "There has been an alarming increase in the number of things I know nothing about." - Ashleigh Ellwood Brilliant “Try to learn something about everything and everything about something.” - Thomas Henry Huxley >Paleontology is an evolving science. >May your wonders never cease! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clauklimo Posted May 25, 2015 Author Share Posted May 25, 2015 Thanks so much guys! The edging around the claw part sure looks like a bird beak, but where i found it, around sea shells, makes sense it would b a crab. Thanks again! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Diceros Posted May 25, 2015 Share Posted May 25, 2015 To clarify some points of function: only the upper, conical, curved, part actually moves. The rest of it, the chelus, just serves as a stable platform to have the movable part work against. There's often an elongate lower anterior extension of the chelus, the fixed finger, for the dactyl to work against. The chelae are often the only parts of a crab which are preserved as fossils, because they require more strength than the rest of the exoskeleton, they are the most heavily calcified chitin. It's why you don't see many fossil shrimp parts - none of the chitinous exoskeleton is well-enough calcified to preserve, so it all decays away (it does make the boiled ones easier to shuck, however). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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