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What is this?
I found this in the black sea, and I have no idea what it is. It feels kind of like a bone, is a bit thicker than 3 peices of paper towards the wide end, and has a hollow tunnel going through from the small end and opens out in the wide end (see diagram). If anyone has any ideas, please tell me.
Comments
Best Answer 10 years ago
This is definitely the lower right jaw bone (mandible) of a dolphin or porpoise. The ridge seen in photo #3 once held the teeth.
Here are a couple of image results that show similar specimens:
http://eheritage.statelibrary.tas.gov.au/resources/fullimage.aspx?f=letter%3DD%26page%3D4&TITLE=Dolphin+Jaw+Bone&ID=MMT_A_1991-501A&ImageNum=1
http://orcaweb.files.wordpress.com/2009/09/p10507613.jpg?w=300&h=225
Answer 10 years ago
Clickable links:
http://eheritage.statelibrary.tas.gov.au/resources/fullimage.aspx?f=letter%3DD%26page%3D4&TITLE=Dolphin+Jaw+Bone&ID=MMT_A_1991-501A&ImageNum=1
http://orcaweb.files.wordpress.com/2009/09/p10507613.jpg?w=300&h=225
Best,
Seth Newburg
MIT Sea Grant College Program
10 years ago
Thanks alot, its been bugging me for years!
10 years ago
a piece of wood or somenthing from this planet(i am wrong?)
10 years ago
. I'll make a wild guess and say it's part of the shell of a conch-ish type mollusc
Answer 10 years ago
Damn big conch - look at the scale from the second image!
Answer 10 years ago
. "-ish" Maybe not a conch, but some kind of shelled gastropod mollusc or similar.
. Some conchs do get rather large. A Q&D look a Google Images and I see at least one pic of a shell as big as a kid's head.
. Like I said, just a wild guess. I'm curious to see if anyone can figure it out.
Answer 10 years ago
Oh, I thought you meant the shorter spines on the "blunt" end. It certainly could be the "tail" end of a similar shell.
10 years ago
. Second wild guess: the barb/stinging spine from a ray, skate, or similar
10 years ago
Could this be from one of those "tube snake" things (don't know what they are called) that attach themselves to coral reefs? I remember seeing something like this on a documentary on TV years ago, but I have no idea if this type of creature lives in the black sea. My first thought was a conch shell like Nacho said but ... that would be one mother of a conch!
10 years ago
I would take it to a Natural History Museum and ask for help there.
If you don't have one near-by, try the British Natural History Museum's Identification Forum.