Fenguin1999 Posted February 11 Share Posted February 11 Hi everyone! A few months ago I came across a post by another user displaying their impressive collection of marine reptile bones they collected between Lyme Regis and Charmouth, U.K. I had no idea that you could have such success with bone fossils along this stretch, so I decided to take a trip and see what I could find. I had a great time and found a good amount of bone pieces, Here is what I came back with after 5 days of looking on Charmouth beach, in order of finding: Now some closer photos by type. I found 2 full Ichthyosaur vertebrae, one from the ribcage section (which I forgot to include in the overall photo), and one from the tail: One very small partial Ichthyosaur vertebra: 2 Ichthyosaur paddle digits: 2 pieces of Ichthyosaur rib bone, from very differently sized creatures! These two are harder to identify, the best guess so far is possibly part of a shoulder bone on the left and possibly a piece of Ichthyosaur jaw on the right, though they are quite rolled and thus hard to get a solid ID: A partial fossilised shark fin spine from a hybodus shark: Another unidentified and heavily worn piece of bone, perhaps from the skull of something, the man in the heritage centre seemed to think it wasn’t Ichthyosaur or plesiosaur: and finally, another unidentified piece, possibly some part of a fish? I have a separate ID post for these last 2 with videos and more photos of you have any ideas for them! All in all extremely happy with what I found, and will definitely be returning! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brevicollis Posted February 11 Share Posted February 11 (edited) Nice finds The fossil in the last photo is very interesting. I dont think its a particial fish, it looks more like a particial (Turtle)skull to me! But only prepared it will be clear, what exactly it is. Edited February 11 by Brevicolis 1 Are good signatures really that important ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fenguin1999 Posted February 11 Author Share Posted February 11 38 minutes ago, Brevicolis said: Nice finds The fossil in the last photo is very interesting. I dont think its a particial fish, it looks more like a particial (Turtle)skull to me! But only prepared it will be clear, what exactly it is. Thank you! Here are some other photos of that last one, it looks like it is very thin and is covered in bumps. I wasn’t even too sure if it was a fossil at all at first but the texture made me think it could be something. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brevicollis Posted February 11 Share Posted February 11 Can you try to take more pictures from all sides, not just from the top ? Its a very interesting piece. 1 Are good signatures really that important ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fenguin1999 Posted February 11 Author Share Posted February 11 1 hour ago, Brevicolis said: Can you try to take more pictures from all sides, not just from the top ? Its a very interesting piece. Sorry yes hopefully these help! Here are some more from the sides and a quick video. IMG_4516.MOV Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brevicollis Posted February 11 Share Posted February 11 (edited) Okay, its definitly bone, not a skull (sadly), but it seems theres more bone hidden under here. Sadly i can not tell which bone this is. Edited February 11 by Brevicolis 1 Are good signatures really that important ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fenguin1999 Posted February 11 Author Share Posted February 11 49 minutes ago, Brevicolis said: Okay, its definitly bone, not a skull (sadly), but it seems theres more bone hidden under here. Sadly i can not tell which bone this is. Ah okay thanks for the help! I’ll definitely look into getting this one prepped to show the full piece. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpc Posted February 11 Share Posted February 11 nice finds. Just to keep folks honest, the ichthyosaur vert are not complete. Ichthyosaur vertebrae also have what I call the sticky out bits... neural spine and zygapopheses. Yours are complete centra (singular=centrum). These are by far the most commonly found parts of ichthy verts. Have a look at this from the Lyme Regis Museum: https://www.lymeregismuseum.co.uk/fossil-facts/death-of-an-ichthyosaur-2/ Still... good finds 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fenguin1999 Posted February 11 Author Share Posted February 11 2 minutes ago, jpc said: nice finds. Just to keep folks honest, the ichthyosaur vert are not complete. Ichthyosaur vertebrae also have what I call the sticky out bits... neural spine and zygapopheses. Yours are complete centra (singular=centrum). These are by far the most commonly found parts of ichthy verts. Have a look at this from the Lyme Regis Museum: https://www.lymeregismuseum.co.uk/fossil-facts/death-of-an-ichthyosaur-2/ Still... good finds Thanks for your reply, and sorry for my poor choice of words! When I wrote ‘complete’ I just meant ‘not broken’ in comparison to the partial vert I found, but as you say that doesn’t mean complete. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paleoworld-101 Posted February 12 Share Posted February 12 You found some awesome stuff! Fantastic for five days work. Well done. I'm glad my post was inspiring enough for you to have a go yourself. I still need to update that topic with more finds from the years after that was posted in 2020. 1 "In Africa, one can't help becoming caught up in the spine-chilling excitement of the hunt. Perhaps, it has something to do with a memory of a time gone by, when we were the prey, and our nights were filled with darkness..." -Eternal Enemies: Lions And Hyenas Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fenguin1999 Posted February 12 Author Share Posted February 12 2 hours ago, Paleoworld-101 said: You found some awesome stuff! Fantastic for five days work. Well done. I'm glad my post was inspiring enough for you to have a go yourself. I still need to update that topic with more finds from the years after that was posted in 2020. Thank you! I had been to Charmouth once before where I was looking for the pyrite ammonites there, but this time I decided to pretty much exclusively look for bone after seeing your post. I think when I go next I might explore that beach that you mention between Lyme Regis and Charmouth aswell, as I have stuck to just Charmouth so far. Would definitely love to see what you have found since along the Jurassic coast! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paleoworld-101 Posted February 12 Share Posted February 12 6 hours ago, Fenguin1999 said: Thank you! I had been to Charmouth once before where I was looking for the pyrite ammonites there, but this time I decided to pretty much exclusively look for bone after seeing your post. I think when I go next I might explore that beach that you mention between Lyme Regis and Charmouth aswell, as I have stuck to just Charmouth so far. Would definitely love to see what you have found since along the Jurassic coast! The bones can be tough to find and sometimes I’ve come away with nothing but you did extremely well for 5 days. When you say you only stuck to Charmouth do you mean you went east from the Heritage Centre? Towards Golden Cap? I actually posted some of my newer finds in this topic last year: https://www.thefossilforum.com/topic/133949-marine-reptile-hunting-at-lyme-regis-uk-april-2023/ "In Africa, one can't help becoming caught up in the spine-chilling excitement of the hunt. Perhaps, it has something to do with a memory of a time gone by, when we were the prey, and our nights were filled with darkness..." -Eternal Enemies: Lions And Hyenas Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fenguin1999 Posted February 12 Author Share Posted February 12 28 minutes ago, Paleoworld-101 said: The bones can be tough to find and sometimes I’ve come away with nothing but you did extremely well for 5 days. When you say you only stuck to Charmouth do you mean you went east from the Heritage Centre? Towards Golden Cap? I actually posted some of my newer finds in this topic last year: https://www.thefossilforum.com/topic/133949-marine-reptile-hunting-at-lyme-regis-uk-april-2023/ Thanks for the link - full of more really cool finds! I would love to find a piece of jaw where you can see the teeth like that - fingers crossed for next time. I stuck to the area west of the heritage center under black ven. I did plan on going the other way too but I was having good success there and so decided to stick with it 😅 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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