Fish or mammal?

[wellwellwell]

Hello everyone,

I'm trying to get a better idea of the things I keep picking up(looking for?) at the river.  I'm also trying to temper my own misguided enthusiasm, which has a tendency to steer me into false confidence.  Judging from quantity alone my guess is that four of the objects in the photo are tilly bones of some sort, and two are worn cetacean bulla(I think).  I have found many more of the suspected tilly bones, they have no symmetry, they all have a connection point from which bony fibers appear to radiate.  At first I thought these to be bulla but my doubts have pressed me to seek a higher authority.  The two on the left I believe are worn bulla, the four on the right are examples of the unknown bony beans, and the ruler is in mm.

thanks for your time.

[ynot]

Your pictures are from an oblique angle.

Please take pictures of each item separately and show all six sides from straight on.

[wellwellwell]

Sorry, I will retake in daylight... cant seem to get worthwhile individual close ups.

[Shellseeker]

The fossils on the left are dolphin tympanic bullas,  one of its 2 types of earbones. The other is a periotic.  Both are in the following photo:

[hemipristis]

5 hours ago, wellwellwell said:

Hello everyone,

I'm trying to get a better idea of the things I keep picking up(looking for?) at the river.  I'm also trying to temper my own misguided enthusiasm, which has a tendency to steer me into false confidence.  Judging from quantity alone my guess is that four of the objects in the photo are tilly bones of some sort, and two are worn cetacean bulla(I think).  I have found many more of the suspected tilly bones, they have no symmetry, they all have a connection point from which bony fibers appear to radiate.  At first I thought these to be bulla but my doubts have pressed me to seek a higher authority.  The two on the left I believe are worn bulla, the four on the right are examples of the unknown bony beans, and the ruler is in mm.

thanks for your time.

the bottom 'bean' may be a teleost ballast bone. I have one or two that sorta look like that, if memory serves (I have a pile of LC fish material that I haven't looked at in a while).  I'll dig them up and post

[wellwellwell]

Hello and thanks for the responses! 

Im going to post more pictures of the better examples of these objects.  I have a bit of an updating issue with my technology so I can't seem to shrink the photos despite good advice, the images will appear in multiple posts I hope.

the first sets are the things I have the most uncertainty, I have found many(20 or so) on various trips at various river beaches in Virginia.  I had presumed they were some aspect of a sand worn dolphin ear bone bulla or  periotic, looking at other examples I am doubting this conclusion.  I would like very much if they are cetacean fossils but the structure exposed by wear seem to lean away from mammal bone(in my very amateur opinion).  Other larger bulla elements I have found appear to have a very grainy bone structure, almost like a super fine sandstone, with folds around the center.  These objects all have a liniar grain radiating from a central connection point, a very distinct bean shape with no holes.  I hope the photos do a better jobs of describing them than I do, thanks for your time,

[wellwellwell]

[wellwellwell]

[wellwellwell]

[wellwellwell]

[wellwellwell]

[wellwellwell]

[wellwellwell]

[wellwellwell]

Please let me know if the photos are more helpful, I'm sorry I should have labeled them, but there are three objects photographed. In order, three of object A, two of object B, and three of object C.  I believe they are all similar enough to be the same type of thing.

thanks for your time!

 

[ynot]

I think they are all 3 worn cetatean periodic.

[wellwellwell]

Thanks for your assessments, I feel like my eyes are tuned for them at the moment.  Sometimes when it feels like I'm finding a bunch of one type of thing, it makes me question what I think the thing I'm finding is... to much looking makes the brain go mushy.  I appreciate all of the information and opinions I can get.