I feel like this was somethings patella, but not sure what.

[Jason Watts]

I found it in the Potomac River near Westmoreland State Park at Stratford Hall.

Any guesses as to what this came from?

I want to guess patella from something.

In the Potomac River near Westmoreland State Park. 

 

 

[Jason Watts]

top view 

[Fossildude19]

Well lit, in focus pictures of the item, lying flat on a solid colored surface, with a ruler or tape measure for scale would be helpful.

Take pictures from directly above, NOT in hand. 

Holding fossils while photographing can cause blurring, and out of focus pictures.

 

Top, bottom, right side, left side, front, back. Please.

 

 

This is what they look like blown up:

 

 

 

 

[Shellseeker]

Welcome to TFF.  There are a lot of Fossil Hunters here and most will tell you that any mammal Patella is hard to identify.  Every mammal has a different looking Patella. I have found and identified at least 4:  Llama, Sabercat, Sloth, Rhino and a few that look like Patella, like yours that I have yet to identify.  

Here is Llama..  and Sabercat 

 

What do you have to do?

Get good close photos like the one below to convince everyone, your find is bone. 

Go to the search feature in upper right and search for Patella... Then compare each thread to your find

IF you are really lucky , you find something that matches.

If not, you have learned what many patellas look like SIZE and SHAPE,  and you can start searching the internet for a mammal that would fit the size of your patella. 

 

Let me 1st state that I am far from sure you have a mammal patella.  It might be a Giant Tortoise foot pad or some other fossil.

 

I can not help more because I am getting up at 5 am to go fossil hunting....   

 

 

 

[Jason Watts]

[Coco]

What about the measurements ?

 

Coco

[Jason Watts]

Roughly 1 1/4" at the longest. Thickest portion is around 1/2" and it's maybe 3/16" at the thinnest. Total height if laid flat is around 3/4" 

[cck]

I’m pretty sure this is a well worn beak from an ocean sunfish.. ranzania

[Rockwood]

Looks more like an epiphysis from a limb bone to me.

[Shellseeker]

6 hours ago, cck said:

I’m pretty sure this is a well worn beak from an ocean sunfish.. ranzania

I am interested in what @MarcoSr thinks also based on this thread. 

 

[cck]

Here are some similar from that location.. it’s Miocene marine… the radial structure of the bone is diagnostic even if the photos aren’t clear

[MarcoSr]

11 hours ago, Shellseeker said:

I am interested in what @MarcoSr thinks also based on this thread. 

 

 

Mola have a lot of different bones that fossilize which are not brittle and flaky like typical bony fish bones and their fossils are common from where this specimen was found.  The shape of this specimen looks natural and not broken to me, and is similar to Mola bones that I've seen.  Although somewhat speculative on my part because I'm only looking at pictures, I would agree that a Mola bone is a definite possibility, but I don't think it is a worn beak.  Looking at the below picture of a Mola skull, there are a number of bones that it could be.

 

 

 

 

 

Marco Sr.