Okeubler01 Posted September 5, 2023 Share Posted September 5, 2023 I found this in Sarasota county Florida. Is it a rib or maybe a piece of turtle shell? Can someone help me? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hemipristis Posted September 5, 2023 Share Posted September 5, 2023 Sorry to say but it appears to be man-made 'Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.' George Santayana Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
digit Posted September 5, 2023 Share Posted September 5, 2023 The man-made diagnosis is likely due to that unusual groove running down one edge which makes it look more like something created. The texture does appear to be very worn bone though (some hints of cancellous spongy bone visible. The white incrustations on this piece seem to show that this was likely found offshore rather than a land find. If I had to guess I'd probably say it is a chunk of whale bone (very commonly found diving off the Venice, FL area). Would explain the whit marine invertebrate encrustations as well. Not seeing anything to indicate turtle/tortoise--many other broken bones end up being thin and flat. Any more info on where this was found? Cheers. -Ken Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Okeubler01 Posted September 9, 2023 Author Share Posted September 9, 2023 Thank you both for the comments. I don't have any other information. I do agree about it probably coming from offshore. I received this from a friend that has gone on digs over the years. He has a large collection. I have many flat bones from diving off "Venice Beach" over the past decades. It has the some density, appearance, and general characteristics as my other bone samples that I have. Cheers back... Buddy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plantguy Posted September 12, 2023 Share Posted September 12, 2023 On 9/9/2023 at 3:03 PM, Okeubler01 said: Thank you both for the comments. I don't have any other information. I do agree about it probably coming from offshore. I received this from a friend that has gone on digs over the years. He has a large collection. I have many flat bones from diving off "Venice Beach" over the past decades. It has the some density, appearance, and general characteristics as my other bone samples that I have. Cheers back... Buddy @Okeubler01 Buddy, Can we see some additional photos of the edges/cross section? @digitKen, why couldnt that groove be a sulcus on a very large turtle shell fragment? The piece seems to narrow all along the one edge so I was wondering if it could match up and be a carapace/peripheral fragment or possibly even from the plastron? I'm just wondering outloud? Regards, Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
digit Posted September 12, 2023 Share Posted September 12, 2023 50 minutes ago, Plantguy said: Ken, why couldnt that groove be a sulcus on a very large turtle shell fragment? The piece seems to narrow all along the one edge so I was wondering if it could match up and be a carapace/peripheral fragment or possibly even from the plastron? I'm just wondering outloud? Not precluding anything at this point with this unusual item. I've never seen a stock straight line run for 7+ inches on any piece of turtle/tortoise shell. The grooves in the carapace/plastron where the scutes meet have always been very narrow and not composed of multiple parallel linear features like this one. The fact that one side seems to show very worn cancellous bone and the other smoother cortical bone is the only thing that's making me believe this is a fragment of a larger chunk of bone (cetacean?) and not a phosphatic imprint (or even blackened manmade object like a piece of mortar). It is curious but I don't see anything that will help to identify it to bone element nor species. Unless someone has seen a more complete specimen showing similar features, this may be yet another unidentifiable frag. On the off chance that this is something cetacean @Boesse would be the only person I know capable of hazarding a guess at a possible identification of this piece. Cheers. -Ken 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boesse Posted September 13, 2023 Share Posted September 13, 2023 Looks like a fragment of a large baleen whale maxilla or possibly premaxilla. Further identification is not possible. 5 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plantguy Posted September 13, 2023 Share Posted September 13, 2023 1 hour ago, Boesse said: Looks like a fragment of a large baleen whale maxilla or possibly premaxilla. Further identification is not possible. Awesome. Thanks Bobby! Ken! Regards, Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
digit Posted September 13, 2023 Share Posted September 13, 2023 Always nice to know we can pull in some diverse experts when the need arises. Thanks, Bobby! Cheers. -Ken 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SPrice Posted September 13, 2023 Share Posted September 13, 2023 (edited) Here's an article from the interweb - ResearchGate in particular showing a convincingly similar image of the above. The article states that the Right whale is the oldest of the baleen whale family @ 20 million years. Worth a peek:https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Holotype-mandible-and-hyoid-of-Antwerpibalaena-liberatlas-IRSNB-M2325-A-mandibles-in_fig5_340804733 And some creative license grafting the OP's fossil segment into a Fossil Baleen Whale jawbone. You might need to squint and add fossil fairy dust on it to make it real. It was a combo of hi and lo res images. Edited September 13, 2023 by SPrice addendum 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
digit Posted September 13, 2023 Share Posted September 13, 2023 I like it! Cheers. -Ken Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Okeubler01 Posted September 13, 2023 Author Share Posted September 13, 2023 Thank you all for the conversation. I will note the comments in my identification file on this piece. Chris... Here are the additional pics you asked for. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plantguy Posted September 14, 2023 Share Posted September 14, 2023 22 hours ago, Okeubler01 said: Thank you all for the conversation. I will note the comments in my identification file on this piece. Chris... Here are the additional pics you asked for. thanks for the additional photos. I dug around in the garage and found a couple of samples of tortoise, couldnt find the turtle material to show why I was wondering and trying to envision where that linear feature might be found. They dont match your sample. Appreciate Ken's and Bobby's explanations/ID. Nice find! Regards, Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boesse Posted September 15, 2023 Share Posted September 15, 2023 On 9/12/2023 at 10:19 PM, SPrice said: Here's an article from the interweb - ResearchGate in particular showing a convincingly similar image of the above. The article states that the Right whale is the oldest of the baleen whale family @ 20 million years. Worth a peek:https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Holotype-mandible-and-hyoid-of-Antwerpibalaena-liberatlas-IRSNB-M2325-A-mandibles-in_fig5_340804733 And some creative license grafting the OP's fossil segment into a Fossil Baleen Whale jawbone. You might need to squint and add fossil fairy dust on it to make it real. It was a combo of hi and lo res images. Looks nice at first glance, but what you can't see from the original image of the mandible is that it has a completely different looking cross-section - mandibles of right whales are nearly round to oval in cross-section. The maxilla is the upper, rather than lower jaw. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Okeubler01 Posted September 23, 2023 Author Share Posted September 23, 2023 Thanks again for all of the pics and insight. I appreciate it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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