What kind of Cretaceous Vertebra is this?

[aplomado]

Need help with vertebra- I found it protruding from the Cretaceous mud at a creek in AL Saturday.  I was very excited!

 

It is about 1.75" wide at the longest, and 1" tall.

 

So, what do I have here?

 

 

[Troodon]

Looks like shark

[Manticocerasman]

I agree with shark

 

[dirtdauber]

Probably shark, but could be other large fish. Bring it by next time you're in town and I'll clean it up for you. Nice find. -- George

[JarrodB]

I'm leaning more towards large fish on this one. 

[Tidgy's Dad]

Very nice find.

[msantix]

Certainly looks fish imo....reminds me of a Concavotectum vertebra (below) but could also be shark 

 

 

 

[jpc]

I am not hugely familiar with shark verts, but aren't they, in general, more flat.  I am going with random non-shark fish on this one. 

 

edit: or maybe a ray.  their verts are more robust, I think. 

 

[Zenmaster6]

I think a none cartilaginous fish that is large.
Could be a funky shark.

[Al Dente]

I would guess something similar to Xiphactinus.

[Natalie81]

I'm also leaning to fish 

[vellis]

I would say Xiphactinus too.  I was looking at the replies and in the collage that Al Dente posted, the upper right and lower left corner pics are an xiphactinus audax that I collected at the NSR here in Dallas, before and after clean up.

 

Most of the shark verts around here are thinner and do not have as much structure as yours. 

 

 

[NSRhunter]

Xiphactinus vertebrae

 

[Ramo]

Another vote for X-fish.

[Notidanodon]

I have some smaller examples and they look like that so xiphactinus too

[mikeymig]

Okay, I will be the odd man out. Since you found it in Alabama and their fossils are common in your area, I'm going with mosasaur vertebrae. 

 

[Ramo]

Sorry Mikeymig, but mosasaur are concave on one end, and convex on the other. So it is not mosasaur.  Plesiosaur is concave on both ends, but this is a good example of X-fish.

[aplomado]

3 minutes ago, Ramo said:

Sorry Mikeymig, but mosasaur are concave on one end, and convex on the other. So it is not mosasaur.  Plesiosaur is concave on both ends, but this is a good example of X-fish.

When I found it I thought it was mosasaur too... too bad!  Mosasaur is my favorite prehistoric critter.