Help identifying animal bone.

[NSEP]

I was walking on dry area (low tide) in a body of water (connected to the English Channel) in Portsmouth UK. I found this animal bone laying around, and i want to know, of what animal does it belong to?

Its about 14-15cm in length width. I think it belongs to some sort of aquatic mammal, probably a seal or porpoise farm animal, like pig or cow, I don't know exactly know what bone it is and where it is located on the the animals body.

Edited August 21, 2018 by NSEP

[tater]

It's a vertebra, and it looks like it's been cut through the centrum.

If it is a marina mammal, I'd actually say it looks like a whale or porpoise due tot he length of the neural spine (the tall bit).

EDIT: I suppose it could have sat on a rough surface and had the centrum eroded away (wave action, sorta like sand paper). It really does look like whale bones I prepped ages ago, though I have some deer bones at home it also resembles and are of a similar size, the small whale bones I prepped (Minke) were still huge by comparison.

Edited August 20, 2018 by tater

[Green Baron]

You mean a transverse processus, or from a caudal vertebra from a big sea mammal ? Not sure, too robust i think and the broken looking end doesn't fit.

I don't know what it is, but It looks like a fragment of a long bone to me, with missing epiphyses. My first bet was actually on a tibia from a landliving animal because of the triangular shaft, the distal end completely missing and the proximal epiphysis gone as well (maybe a younger animal at lifetime), and because they are quite robust. But after a short check i am away from that.

I don't know what it is. You could show it off in an anatomy forum.

Edit: sea mammal vertebra might have such processes, but they are connected to a big "drum" like structure, and that part looks to me more like a missing epiphysis. But i am not sure. It is a long time since i last had bones in my hands ...

Edited August 20, 2018 by Green Baron

[tater]

It's not a long bone. It's a vertebra. Not even close.

Here's a typical whale vertebra:

The hole in the middle is the vertebral foramen.

Here is a deer spine:

It could be neural spine of a thoracic vert, or it could perhaps be the transverse process as you suggest, the image is less symmetrical than I thought. In that case, it's a lumbar.

Here's a dolphin cast:

https://boneclones.com/product/articulated-atlantic-bottlenose-dolphin-skeleton-SC-033-A

 

Edited August 20, 2018 by tater

[Green Baron]

You may be right ... it is the asymmetry and the apparent robustness that leaves me doubting.

Edit: if there is a museum in your area, you could take it there and compare it. In Stralsund, Germany that could easily be done. But it is a few 100km away :-)

Edited August 20, 2018 by Green Baron

[tater]

If it was cetacean and it was the US, it would actually be the property of the Federal gov (to prevent trafficking in whales).

8 minutes ago, Green Baron said:

You may be right ... it is the asymmetry and the apparent robustness that leaves me doubting.

I think you may be right that it could be a transverse process, but I'm certain it's not a long bone.

[Green Baron]

I yield. I didn't even think of a marine mammal vertebra at first.

Yeah, i uttered my unsorted thoughts too loud. After a short check i had already ditched that, though lying around can make funny things with bones as dense as a tibia.

Edited August 20, 2018 by Green Baron

[Scotius]

By the look of the end, it could've been processed. As in "butchered". I wouldn't be surprised if it turned out to be a part of pig, mutton or a young heifer that become a meal for a ship's crew.

[KG3]

1 hour ago, tater said:

Here's a dolphin cast:

https://boneclones.com/product/articulated-atlantic-bottlenose-dolphin-skeleton-SC-033-A

 

If this bone is from a dolphin and NSEP wanted to get it as clean and bright as these other specimens pictured, would he use some sort of all porpoise cleaner?   

[NSEP]

1 hour ago, KG3 said:

If this bone is from a dolphin and NSEP wanted to get it as clean and bright as these other specimens pictured, would he use some sort of all porpoise cleaner?   

Badum tsss

2 hours ago, Scotius said:

By the look of the end, it could've been processed. As in "butchered". I wouldn't be surprised if it turned out to be a part of pig, mutton or a young heifer that become a meal for a ship's crew.

I actually think this is very likely. It is in a relatively populated area and i wouldn't be suprised of it were some barbeque leftovers. It does look like it has been cut clean. 

[NSEP]

After staring at google images of animal vertebrae, i think the most likely candidate is a cow vertebrae.

More:

Edited August 20, 2018 by NSEP

[kerbiloid]

Spoiler

Collect all 48 and get a dyno suit for free.

 

[tater]

5 hours ago, KG3 said:

If this bone is from a dolphin and NSEP wanted to get it as clean and bright as these other specimens pictured, would he use some sort of all porpoise cleaner?   

Prepping bones is complex, but that cast I showed you is resin, not bone. Dave Kronen does a great job in his shop (I visited the shop when I was in LA a couple months ago).

5 hours ago, Scotius said:

By the look of the end, it could've been processed. As in "butchered". I wouldn't be surprised if it turned out to be a part of pig, mutton or a young heifer that become a meal for a ship's crew.

THat's why I said it looked as if it had been cut. That said, it's an odd place to cut a bone for butchering meat (Or at least I think so, I've never disassembled a large mammal).

[Gargamel]

5 hours ago, KG3 said:

If this bone is from a dolphin and NSEP wanted to get it as clean and bright as these other specimens pictured, would he use some sort of all porpoise cleaner?   

Can we get a pun of the month badge or something for this man?  @Vanamonde

[Nuke]

ive cleaned deer in the past and you normally chuck the entire spine once you removed the meat from it. not sure how it is with other animals.

Edited August 21, 2018 by Nuke

[Reactordrone]

3 hours ago, Nuke said:

ive cleaned deer in the past and you normally chuck the entire spine once you removed the meat from it. not sure how it is with other animals.

It's not uncommon for animal carcasses to be cut in half lengthwise at an abattoir with a big hand held bandsaw. Looks like there's kerf marks on the bone from a saw.

Edited August 21, 2018 by Reactordrone

[kerbiloid]

Spoiler

 

[Green Baron]

While it is definitely possible, even probably to find all sorts of rubbish in the ocean (one can't make even a short tour in protected areas without sighting any rubbish), it is difficult to give a definitive answer if you don't have experience. Best is to go to a museum with a collection for comparison and show it to someone who knows or directly compare. But the answer might be "yeah, its a vertebra process, but not from an animal we study here". Or "yeuch, begone with it" because sooner or later it'll start to moulder :-)

Edited August 21, 2018 by Green Baron

[MinimumSky5]

The bone is already way past mouldy, there's nothing left on it to smell. I'd personally say cow bone, but the cut confuses me. That's not cut down the midline, and I see no culinary reason why you would cut the bone like that. Most likely, its an erosion surface, they can be that smooth after a few decades in turbulent water. 

[Green Baron]

1 hour ago, MinimumSky5 said:

The bone is already way past mouldy, there's nothing left on it to smell.

There is organic stuff enough in it from the wet sediment it was in.

I do not know which animal it is from.

Edited August 21, 2018 by Green Baron

[Xd the great]

Call the police. See if they think its a human bone.

[YNM]

Yeah, it looks like something off the spine of something. The channel-like stuff looks like where the spinal cord was. A bit too well-cut though from the rest of it ?

 

I'd suggest asking proper people in a museum or science center who might know.

Edited August 21, 2018 by YNM

[Green Baron]

27 minutes ago, YNM said:

...A bit too well-cut though from the rest of it ? ...

 

Good point ...