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Can anyone say what it is?? Looks like a cartilage or a shell


Victoria B

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Hello everyone! 

I have no experience with fossils whatsoever, but this looks like a fossil to me. 

It is very heavy and feels like a petrified bone / cartilage or shell of some kind. Very peculiar.

What is it? I bought it in a second hand shop in Sweden.

Thank you in advance!

 

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This is an inner ear bone called a "bulla" from a cetacean ( whale).

To me it looks fairly modern. Perhaps a souvenir from the days of whaling ship expeditions. 

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20 minutes ago, Victoria B said:

Wooot!! WOW :) THANK YOU

How old is it?

Given the height of whaling, likely not more than 200 years.

 

 

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That is a VERY cool find and is in very good condition.  Someone at your local museum can probably give you a Genus and species from the specimen.

Don't know much about history

Don't know much biology

Don't know much about science books.........

Sam Cooke - (What A) Wonderful World

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1 minute ago, Victoria B said:

Thanks! Wrote him a message, we'll see if he answers.

Boesse does not log on every day (or week).

It may be a while before You get an answer.

Darwin said: " Man sprang from monkeys."

Will Rogers said: " Some of them didn't spring far enough."

 

My Fossil collection - My Mineral collection

My favorite thread on TFF.

 

 

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Probably, balaenopteridae then? Or parietobalaena?

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Edited by Victoria B
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Already responded to a private message, but this is certainly a balaenopterid! Owing to its large size and some other features, this is almost certainly a blue whale (Balaenoptera musculus) tympanic bulla. The only other candidate is B. physalus (fin whale), but the anatomy isn't quite as close a match as it is for B. musculus.

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Wow, modern or not, it's a neat bone. Out of curiosity, what are its dimension? It does look huge by standards of the fossil bulla(s) I have seen. And as expert, Boesse, said, it's likely from a Blue Whale, which I believe are the world's largest creature. Good find, and you didn't even have to get dirty to find it. Congrat's.

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14 cm x 10 cm x 8 cm (circa 5'5 x 3'9 x 3'15 inches). Weight 740 g / 1.63 lb.

It feels such an honour to have it. Incredible I found it there, they never had anything like that before. And how great it is I find you guys to explain all this for me.  

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Whaling was banned in 1986. It may be as young as 33 years old.

 

 

Mark.

 

Fossil hunting is easy -- they don't run away when you shoot at them!

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