Coprolite and Maybe Scute

[J.D.]

Hey folks!  What we have here - subject to your thoughts - seems to be a piece of coprolite and maybe a scute from a gator or croc.  The latter is the one I am most unsure about… any thoughts?

 

Found in the waters of the Potomac near Fossil Beach, Westmoreland  State Park (Virginia).

Edited May 14 by J.D.
Typo

[shark57]

The second one is a sturgeon scute. The first one looks like some coprolites I've seen, let's see what others think.

[jpc]

I would call it a piece of skull rather than a scute.  But nice find. 

 

[shark57]

17 hours ago, jpc said:

I would call it a piece of skull rather than a scute.  But nice find. 

 

Hi JP, how are things in Casper? Sturgeons have multiple rows of scutes that run nearly the entire length of their body. Is there something about this one that makes you think skull piece?

[Carl]

Best to not call such things 'scutes.' They are best refereed to as 'osteoderms.' 'Scutes' should only be used to refer to keratinous elements.

[jpc]

18 hours ago, shark57 said:

Hi JP, how are things in Casper? Sturgeons have multiple rows of scutes that run nearly the entire length of their body. Is there something about this one that makes you think skull piece?

Things are good here in Casper.  About to get very busy for the summer.

 

The first picture of the specimen shows the internal view, and it is rather three dimensional.  That is what makes me think skull.  Granted, I do not know too much about sturgeon osteoderms.  

[cck]

It’s a sturgeon lateral osteoderm.. scute is still widely used interchangeably in the scientific community..even if it isn’t as accurate

 

the ‘ coprolite ‘ looks more like a local ironstone concretion , but I could be wrong

[J.D.]

Thanks for the osteoderm deets.  
 

As for the other, it does taste like coprolite, so…

[Brandy Cole]

I agree that the first piece reminds me of an ironstone of concretion.