Fish Fin and Fish Tail ID

[Kathi]

I inherited what I believe are Miocene fossils and am trying to identify as many as I can. I hope I'm not being a pain. The fish fin has a label which says Punga River Scute and that's all I have to go on. Most other fossils provided only common names such as with the fish fin.  Any thoughts?

[Al Dente]

The first one is a fish hypural bone which is part of the tail.

[digit]

2 hours ago, Kathi said:

I hope I'm not being a pain.

Not at all. Spreading fossil knowledge (and maintaining a great community of knowledgeable members) is what this forum is all about.

 

Al Dente has quickly provided you some great information (keyword 'hypural') that should allow you to do inter-webber-net searches that should show you more about this part of the fish tail.

 

 

Cheers.

 

-Ken

[Mark Kmiecik]

And the second may be tail as well or maybe a fin. I don't know if there is enough there to determine which it is. Nice fossils at any rate.

[Fossildude19]

I don't think the second item is a fin. Fins are usually made up of many different bony pieces, called rays, spines, and raylets.

The are not usually preserved as one solid piece. 

Other views of this item might help to narrow down what type of bone it might be.

[Kathi]

Thank you for the great information, Al, Ken, Mark, and Tim.  

[Kathi]

What about possibly a lobe-fin as opposed to the ray fin fish

[hemipristis]

On 4/2/2022 at 8:20 AM, Kathi said:

I inherited what I believe are Miocene fossils and am trying to identify as many as I can. I hope I'm not being a pain. The fish fin has a label which says Punga River Scute and that's all I have to go on. Most other fossils provided only common names such as with the fish fin.  Any thoughts?

 

the hypural is from a billfish (sailfish, marlin, etc) base upon its thickness, the raised rays on the fan, and the crescent-shaped indentation in the center of the distal portion of the fan. Other scombridae, such as tunas (the other usual suspect for these) have hypurals that are thinner, rays that are planar with the rest of the fan, and lack the indentation

[Fossildude19]

14 hours ago, Kathi said:

What about possibly a lobe-fin as opposed to the ray fin fish

 

Not likely. Again, more photos of the other side, and edges might help.

This looks too thick to be a fin, but could be some sort of other bone, possibly from the skull.

I see a slight resemblance to a gular plate, or an operculum, but honestly, this doesn't look like typical fish bone material to me..

My first thought on seeing it was an internal mold of some type of scallop or bivalve.

[FossilDAWG]

Lobe-finned fish are exceedingly rare after the Devonian, and I have never seen an isolated fin like your specimen.  I think that what you have might be a weathered half of a hypural, or apiece of a gular plate as fossilized suggested.

 

Don

[Kathi]

Here you go fossildude, flip side and edges. So appreciate everybody's input. It measures 5 1/2 inches long and I agree, it may be too thick to be a fin

[hemipristis]

On 4/3/2022 at 5:03 AM, Fossildude19 said:

I don't think the second item is a fin. Fins are usually made up of many different bony pieces, called rays, spines, and raylets.

The are not usually preserved as one solid piece. 

Other views of this item might help to narrow down what type of bone it might be.

 

I concur.

It has a passing resemblance to a gill cover.  Photo of a small one from a jack Seriola sp., below (courtesy of elasmo.com) @Kathi

 

 

[Fossiljones]

It could be a Cetacean Petrosal.