Jawbone in a marine cave, help!

[yago]

HI guys. I found a jawbone in a marine cave (around 23 meters deep).
Apparently looks like it belongs to a carnivorous animal.
Im trying to identify the animal but it's clearly out of my area of expertise

Any clues? land animal? marine animal? reptile, mammal......

Thanks in advance
PS: sorry there is no size reference but i estimate it measures 25-30cm long

 

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[gollum]

Probably something like a Mosasaur:



Teeth and jaw shape seem to fit.

I looked at Sperm Whale and Killer Whale jaws. The number of teeth are different. Modern whales seem to have teeth only on the front half of their jaws.

Mike

 

[Harry Pristis]

It's a fish. Maybe a barracuda, but there are other possibilities. When you collect it, be ultra-careful because the teeth may readily fall out of the fragile jaw. If the whole thing is embedded in flowstone, part of a speleothem, you may hesitate to remove it. If there is evidence of a midden, you might want to excavate the site with professional help.

 

[gollum]

Sorry,

I missed the size reference. Teeth completely wrong for a baracuda. Could be from a broken dolphin jaw, or a broken smaller whale jaw. Teeth look very conical.

Mike

 

[Harry Pristis]

Toothed whales don't have an enlarged or caniniform tooth in their jaws, as does this fish jaw. Barracuda or wahoo.

​

 

[yago]

It's a fish. Maybe a barracuda, but there are other possibilities. When you collect it, be ultra-careful because the teeth may readily fall out of the fragile jaw. If the whole thing is embedded in flowstone, part of a speleothem, you may hesitate to remove it. If there is evidence of a midden, you might want to excavate the site with profession help.

Thanks for the help guys.
I've found many barracuda bone pictures and it seems to match in most cases. Almost sure it belongs to a big barracuda.

I wont remove it from where it is. My sole purpose is to identify the bone and now maybe find out the age of it