# can you identify this (maybe) fossil? Peace River Florida **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 5, 2017, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-identify-this-maybe-fossil-peace-river-florida/779099 "2017-02-05T20:49:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2017, 7:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-identify-this-maybe-fossil-peace-river-florida/779099/21 "2017-02-08T07:19:10Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > BTW, you might be interested to see [my own mystery fossil](http://www.thefossilforum.com/index.php?/topic/56299-fossil-fragment-likely-from-skull/) (from South Carolina) that nobody has been able to identify for me. Now _that_ is definitely bone - not sure if from a skull or something like a scapula fragment or similar. I think the deep grooves may actually be worm bores or similar. Could even be from a [dugong](https://www.fossilrealm.com/products/rare-fossil-dugong-skull-cap-south-carolina-usa), in SC… …but note how texturally and petrographically, it’s completely different from the OP’s find. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2017, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-identify-this-maybe-fossil-peace-river-florida/779099/22 "2017-02-08T12:11:45Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > …but note how texturally and petrographically, it’s completely different from the OP’s find. It is hard to tell from the out of focus images, but take a close look at the cross section photos for the OP’s piece–while it is mostly smooth, there are small pits scattered across the surface. Manatee bones would be very dense (for buoyancy reasons) so I did a google image search for Manatee rib cross-sections and found [this](http://www.thefossilforum.com/index.php?/topic/69107-dugong-rib-bone/) post, which confirms what I was thinking. (For comparison, [here](http://imgur.com/a/5B43u) are some random bone fragments I’ve found on South Carolina beaches–most of the look more boney, but the one on the lower right is more similar to the OPs. ([This](http://imgur.com/a/d0sBu) one isn’t boney at all–just bragging about a nice small piece of fossil wood.)) ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2017, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-identify-this-maybe-fossil-peace-river-florida/779099/23 "2017-02-08T14:04:52Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > It is hard to tell from the out of focus images, but take a close look at the cross section photos for the OP’s piece–while it is mostly smooth, there are small pits scattered across the surface. Looks like weathering, not structure, to me. > [@](#): > > Manatee bones would be very dense (for buoyancy reasons) so I did a google image search for Manatee rib cross-sections and found [this](http://www.thefossilforum.com/index.php?/topic/69107-dugong-rib-bone/) post, which confirms what I was thinking. That piece has a very clear grain, and isn’t vitreous at all. I’m not saying the OP’s piece\* can’t \*be a manatee rib (fossilization isn’t an exact process after all), but it doesn’t look like the other fossil bones I’ve seen (and I’ve seen plenty) - it’s particularly the vitreous lustre and lack of grain that are different. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2017, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-identify-this-maybe-fossil-peace-river-florida/779099/24 "2017-02-08T14:06:56Z")
I [relayed the ID question](http://www.thefossilforum.com/index.php?/topic/71805-peace-river-fossil-sirenian-rib/) over to TheFossilForum (probably the best site for fossil discussions) and got this: ``` *Well then you can relay to the finder that this bone is quite definitely a sirenian rib fragment as thought. In particular it is from the now extinct species called the Florida Sea Cow (Metaxytherium floridanum). These bones do not have the spongy cancellous (trabecular) inside which normally contain bone marrow in other bones and are instead solid right through to the core. This makes them preserve very well (so they are common finds in the Peace River) as well as making them very distinctive to identify. More information may be obtained here: * ``` - [Metaxytherium floridanum – Florida Vertebrate Fossils](https://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/florida-vertebrate-fossils/species/metaxytherium-floridanum/)\* Coincidentally, there is [a thread](http://www.thefossilforum.com/index.php?/topic/71786-hunting-the-peace/) about fossiling on the Peace River posted there less than a day ago. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2017, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-identify-this-maybe-fossil-peace-river-florida/779099/25 "2017-02-08T16:32:23Z")
Cool, good to have an expert opinion. ---
**Author:** ![Sigene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df788c/32.png) [@Sigene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigene)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2017, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-identify-this-maybe-fossil-peace-river-florida/779099/26 "2017-02-08T21:57:33Z")
Excellent! Thank you I might post pictures of the bone fragments I found as well in the same gravel pile. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-identify-this-maybe-fossil-peace-river-florida/779099.md?page=1)