South Texas Upper Cretaceous Bone

[CraigHyatt]

This is from Eagle Pass, Texas. This area is upper cretaceous. Usually, these turn out to be infill, but something about this specimen caught my eye. I thought it might be a rib from a large fish, but for a fish that size, it's kind of short.

Here's the area where I found it sitting on top of the ground.

It's a dark grey color, and has an irregular surface texture. The inner curve of the surface has a texture almost like coral. There are a couple of chips or boreholes on the surface, so the structure appears layered.

Here's a magnified view of the broken tip end.

[Rustdee]

Doesn't look like bone to me. There is no cell structure to the piece. I would say an in filled burrow or a weathered piece of limestone.

[CraigHyatt]

This guy lived in late cretaceous. Maybe the circled structure.

[caldigger]

Gonna have to go with Rustdee on this one. Looks like another burrow cast.

[doushantuo]

No (remnants of)trabecular structure,but a rather homogeneous interior.Unlikely to be bone.Sorry.

[JohnJ]

These guys are right, Craig. This is the internal cast of a marine animal burrow.

[CraigHyatt]

Thanks guys! I'll do some research on bony fossils so I know what features to look for.

[JohnJ]

Cretaceous bone will look quite different than this on the surface and cross-section. You'll likely know it when you see it.

[tmaier]

Craig, you should go to some local fossil shops and handle some of the bone fossils they have there. They normally have buckets of unidentifiable "bony bits" that you can handle. It's a good outing, and gets you familiar with what you are looking for. Look closely are the texture and ignore the overall shape at first. I've never been good with seeing bone or fossilized wood. They are hard to spot because they are often covered with dirt and camouflaged.

[GeschWhat]

I'm not sure about the bones in your area, but in South Dakota & Wyoming, it is pretty easy to distinguish between bone and petrified wood or burrows using the lick test. If you touch it to your tongue, bone will usually stick where burrows and petrified wood will not. It works for coprolites too!

[Uncle Siphuncle]

I've seen turtle, shark, and mosasaur material in the Escondido, just FYI. Color can vary from off white to pink, tan, brown, or orange, so it may be best to train your focus on texture as well as morphological shape of the various bones of the critters mentioned, expecting to see mainly fragments. Online photos are probably the easiest way to familiarize your eyes.

[CraigHyatt]

I'm not sure about the bones in your area, but in South Dakota & Wyoming, it is pretty easy to distinguish between bone and petrified wood or burrows using the lick test. If you touch it to your tongue, bone will usually stick where burrows and petrified wood will not. It works for coprolites too!

As long as the coprolites aren't too fresh. I ain't licking anything less than a million years old. ;-)

[Uncle Siphuncle]

As long as the coprolites aren't too fresh. I ain't licking anything less than a million years old. ;-)

...like fine wine...

[GeschWhat]

Yeah...you definitely want to make sure it's petrified first! Triassic turds from New Mexico have great stickage values...I use them in all my demos.

[tmaier]

HEY! STOP THAT! THIS IS A FAMILY FORUM!

[GeschWhat]

...like fine wine...

HEY! STOP THAT! THIS IS A FAMILY FORUM!

Yeah...stop that! References to alcoholic beverages are simply not appropriate

[tmaier]

Lori, I was just kidding, I hope you know.

[CraigHyatt]

Yeah...you definitely want to make sure it's petrified first! Triassic turds from New Mexico have great stickage values...I use them in all my demos.

Triassic turd... it just rolls off the tongue.

[GeschWhat]

Lori, I was just kidding, I hope you know.

Of course...I assumed that is how you got the title "Chief Forum Comedian."