whale vertebrae?

[fuss]

Ill start by saying that I know very little about identifying bone fossils, but I found this at West Moreland park In Virginia which is on the Potomac river. They say you can find things like Whale vertebrae sharks teeth dolphin bones etc.. To me it looks like chert that has an interesting shape, but I figure I might as well clear up any doubts and post it and see if it might be a fossil such as a whale vert. I found no shark teeth while there...unfortunately. But I did find some other possible fossilized things that I post another time. Thx.

 

[AeroMike]

It doesn't look like a vert at all. With the wear on a vert like that you would see porous (sp?) material.

It is true though that you can find a some nice fossil teeth, and verts there on the Potomac

 

[Jason in Enid]

I can identify a species but you definitely have vertebrae of some type! It is highly worn, so it has spend a lot of its life washing down a river or tumbling in surf. Looks like both pre and post-depositional wear.

 

[fuss]

forgot to add object for scale in the image, this measures 3" across by2 1/2" tall. weight is just over 14oz.

 

[CaptEsteban]

I believe it is a whale vertebrae that is well worn, as Jason said above.

 

[fuss]

appreciate the opinions.