What is this?

CDavison

Greenie
Apr 12, 2021
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Curious what this is? 20210530_115842.jpg 20210530_115842.jpg
 

DCMatt

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Oct 12, 2006
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Metal? Stone? Wood? May we see the ends?

Please don't take photos of the object in your hand. The camera will focus better on a flat surface.
 

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Red-Coat

Gold Member
Dec 23, 2019
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Surrey, UK
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If it is stone (and it looks to be so), I would think it's a fossilized belemnite guard (rostrum). The internal 'skeletal' portion of a squid-like cephalopod and the only part that commonly preserves as a fossil.

Belemnites.jpg Belemnite Guard.jpg
 

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bowwinkles

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Nov 3, 2012
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I think if you looked hard enough you could erect something out of that. maybe petrified
 

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CDavison

Greenie
Apr 12, 2021
17
13
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I thought it was a fossil but thee groove had me curious.
 

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Red-Coat

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Dec 23, 2019
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I thought it was a fossil but thee groove had me curious.

Belemnite guards can have a dorsal groove, or a ventral groove, or both. Sometimes the grooves run the full length of the fossil and sometimes they're only visible at one or both extremities. Also, the blunt anterior end has a conical cavity (alveolus) which contained the internal organs of the animal and the guard is thinner in those areas. It often snaps off after fossilization, leaving an indent that's the residual end of the cavity and the beginning of the protoconch.

Anatomy.jpg
 

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Dougie Webb

Sr. Member
Jun 14, 2019
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Garrett Ace 200
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Belemnite guards can have a dorsal groove, or a ventral groove, or both. Sometimes the grooves run the full length of the fossil and sometimes they're only visible at one or both extremities...

Redcoat, you are the Font of All Knowledge. I know a few tv theme songs from the 80's and that's about it...
 

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